The Great Story of Seven
by LazerTH
Summary: A conquering god threatens Mobius and its deities with destruction. The elect seven, along with Destiny, Fate and the Ancient Walkers fight against this god for the sake of the universe.
1. Default Chapter

The Great Story of Seven

By LazerTH

Disclaimer: Firey Kitsune is © his player. Lazer and Rebecca Coriander are © the author. All other characters either belong to Sega or are of my imagination.

Author's note: The Sonic gang, including my own fan-created characters, has come far in these adventures I write. This story, I believe, will be their greatest and most memorable of adventures. Enjoy.

***

            Outside the limitations of Space, and beyond the grip of Time, is the enigmatic dwelling place of the Ancient Walkers. These three immortals have watched the planet of Mobius, guiding its inhabitants and shaping its history for eons. 

            A victory has recently been achieved on this small planet: Robotnik, the iron fisted tyrant, is dead. His oppression of the non-human population of Mobius is now legend.

_            "We aided his enemies."_

_            "Was it our place to manipulate events to his disadvantage?"_

_            "Is it of great consequence? He was not the end of Evil."_

As the Three thought of events past, present and future, two other beings interrupted. Three masked heads bowed in their presence.

            _"Rise. Your actions of late have not gone unnoticed."_

_            "He is coming. One who would declare himself greater than we."_

The Three were confused. Why had they not foreseen this significant event?

            _"Be not dismayed. His thoughts and actions are outside your realm of understanding."_

_            "The servant has died. The master will claim his treasure."_

The Ancient Walkers dared to speak.

            _"Who is this being you speak of?"_

_            "When will he come?"_

_            "How can we prepare?"_

The two others arrived at a decision.

            _"You will intervene, as you always have."_

_            "We will intervene, if you are successful."_

They were silent, and spoke again.

            _"You hurried the death of his servant. Our preparations must likewise be hurried."_

_            "His desire is omnipotence. He is coming. It is too soon. We may fail."_

***

            Sandopolis is not known for its hospitality. A brutal heat rises from the sand that keeps most tourists away from its ruins. Within these ruins live creatures of darkness that only the brave, or foolish, would disturb.

             Mighty the armadillo was creeping across a great stone arch within the largest ruin. The ceiling above was lost in shadows, only the torch in his paw provided light. By its yellow flicker, he peered under the arch, grinned, and jumped downward. Before he hit the sand, his shoes hit something solid and invisible. There was a grunt of pain while sand flew. 

            "You're It."

            The chameleon materialized and shrugged Mighty off his back. He spit out a mouthful of sand before asking, "How'd you find me?"

            "I saw footprints in the sand, but only one pair."

            Grumbling, Espio took the torch, covered his eyes and began to count to ten. He heard Mighty scampering away to his left.

            "Idiot," Espio muttered while he walked, "Hide and Seek in Sandopolis, with only one torch. Idiot."

            The sound of fluttering wings reached his ears. Without even looking in the direction, he dove toward the sound. The torch caught a very startled bat in its light before Espio realized there was no ground beneath.

            "AUGHHH!! (Why didn't I look before I…)"

_Whump. _He landed onto a sand slide and tumbled head over heels until plowing into a soft mound. Again, he spit out a mouthful of sand (and began working on enough saliva to spit out the rest). He opened his eyes to pure liquid blackness.

            "Well, this is great!" he yelled aloud, "That was the only torch we brought!"   

            "What?" came a faint voice from high above, "The torch is out? Then how are we going to get out of here?"

            Espio looked up. About a hundred metres above was the entrance, hot sunshine pouring through it. How would he get up there if he couldn't see where he was going? There were so many pitfalls, and the rocky paths were so narrow.

            "Hey! Listen! Find one of those big light switches!"

            "Can do!"

            "Right!"

            "Just do it!" he yelled again. He stood still for a few seconds, wondering which way to go. A small white light burst into existence several metres away from him, and he wondered if the torch had rolled down to him. He walked over to it and saw two black holes in the midst of the white light, which looked like…

            "Eyes?"

            The light grew slightly larger and sprouted a pair of ethereal horns. The two holes narrowed, as if frowning.

            "Hey, it's a…" 

            "GHOST!" he heard Charmy and Mighty scream somewhere above. Espio smirked. 

            "Aw, isn't that a cute yiddle ghost? I wonder why they're afraid of you?"

            The ghost grew until it was twice the size of Espio. Its eyes and horns became positively demonic. 

            "Y… You think you're scary? You're still a ghost, you can't touch me, I'm alive, and you're dead."

            Claws, attached to a slim white arm, lashed out and knocked him into the air. He landed on his face, then got up and, abandoning all arguments, started running. He crashed into a wall, but barely noticed the pain as he turned around. There were many, many more…

            "GHOSTS!"

            "We know!" Mighty and Charmy yelled back.

            _Now_ they were playing Hide and Seek. A shrill scream arose from the ghostly throng, and the gang started in the opposite direction. When they hit a wall, they ran or flew along it. If Espio or Mighty tripped (and trip they did), they pushed off the sandy floor and kept running. Too bruised and tired to keep on going, but too afraid not to, and everywhere were ghosts, ghosts!

            Then there was abrupt, astonishing light.

            "Agh! Turn that thing off… wait, what am I saying?" cried Espio.

            "If it isn't darkness that's blinding me, it's light. What luck," murmured Mighty.

            "You guys! What're you doing down there? Come on! Get moving! I've found Knuckles!"

            Forgetting the fresh pain in their eyes, the three of them looked upward at Julie-Su. She was just inside the entrance, hanging onto a light switch.

            "You're kidding? Found him? Just like that?" remarked Espio, who was ensuring that no ghosts were in his vicinity. 

            "Six years he's been gone, and he just drops in?" added Mighty.

            "More importantly, _where is he?" _asked Charmy.

"Corona Den, with Vector. He's… not well, but he isn't sick, either, I… oh, just get a move on!"

            With that she whirled around and dashed into the burning desert.

***

An unruly crowd of Freedom Fighters, carrying great tankards of beer, surrounded the hedgehogs, whose right paws were locked in mortal combat. The humidity of the room, the cheering, and their fierce struggle caused sweat to pour off of them and soak into their fur.

"Knock him over, Sonic!"

"Rip his arm off!"

"Kill him! Kill him now!" they shouted drunkenly.

            Even with the crowd on his side, Sonic could not force the arm of his opponent down. The red hedgehog opposing him was not winning, either. Their eyes were also locked onto each other, raging green versus solid black. The wooden table beneath their elbows groaned.

            "Give up?" Sonic challenged between very tightly grit teeth.

            "Never," his opponent rejoined, sweat dripping down the V-shaped fur on his forehead and onto his nose. 

This struggle lasted several more seconds until something gave way: the table. It split down the center with a splintering _snap._ The hedgehogs fell forward and bonked their heads against each other's, eliciting uproarious laughter from the crowd (which was gloriously drunk by now).

"That's the sixth time that happened," noted the red one while rubbing his arm. Sonic stood up and brushed back his emerald green hair that was slick with sweat. In all the twenty-two years of his life, he had never met a stronger hedgehog than Lazer. The first time they had fought had ended in a draw. The only thing he had the edge with was speed…

"Race you to Knothole, you old bastard."

The thought of Sonic racing against someone sent renewed waves of laughter boiling over the revelers. 

"Old. You call _me_ old?" Lazer replied, "Need I remind you…"

"Yeah, samurai boy, the Emeralds. Screw 'em. This's a race. Ready? Set? Go."

Without any fuss Lazer's body flashed bright red and disappeared. With an equal amount of no fuss, he reappeared soon after.

"One second. And you're still here?"

The crowd went "Ooooh!" as Sonic's brow furrowed.

"Forget the Emeralds samurai boy. This's just a plain, normal race. We're only using our legs."

"Oh, okay."

The blast of red light came from his legs this time, and he disappeared once more. Sonic shook his head while everyone else screamed with laughter.

"What an idiot," he said vehemently. Mugs of frothy beer were being pushed into his face and the scent filled his head. He contemplated getting drunk (he dreamt of floating on a warm ocean of oblivion, ah, the beer smelled so good) but decided, a little resignedly, that he should go home to his wife.

***

Corona Den was like any other hole in the ground, except this one had cold yellow light glowing within its walls. Coincidentally or otherwise, Corona Den was an excellent supply of Power Rings, which simply popped out of the walls whenever they felt like it. The Chaotix had not bothered theorizing why (or how) the walls created Power Rings as they had other things to do, for example, caring for a Guardian whom had been six years absent.

"Yo, he's just been starin' at the ceilin'. Man I wish he would tell me what's dealin' in that thick skull of his."

Mighty thought of yanking the headphones off Vector's head. Knuckles, who was never famous for being talkative, was resting, arms folded, with his eyes fixated on the golden light above him. He was the same Knuckles they had all grown to love, but there were shadows beneath his eyes, and he had grown visibly thinner. Everyone expected him to start talking and not end his tale until a few days later. What the hell had he been _doing_ for so long?

"Knuckles?" it was Julie Su who broke the silence, "Naki?"

"Here I am," he said in a ponderous tone. He did not look at anything except the ceiling.

"Do you want to tell us where you've been?"

"No."

"Oh, Naki," she cajoled, placing her paw beneath his head, "Please tell us. Or at least tell me. We're all very worried."

Her other paw brushed back and forth across his rigid jaw (was that stubble on his chin?). Mighty snorted.

"Careful, he might bite."

"Shush. Let him talk."

After a few more seconds of her treatment his mouth dropped open and shut again. Then he formed words.

"I returned here to find the Seven. I could have stayed _there_ and been happy… but as Guardian I have responsibilities to the Emeralds, and to Mobius."

He reached upward and held Julie Su's paw, the one that had traveled from his jaw and now lay on his chest.

"I must find them. For you, for all, so that there will be life."

"Man, you couldn't be a little more confusin, boy? What's this Seven?" Vector interrupted, hands spread wide.

"Seven living beings. Each was born to close this terrible chapter in history…"

***

            The streetlights were few and far between each were lonely shadows. Sonic moved between light and dark at a leisurely trot. This was the city built by Freedom Fighters. Six more miles of expansion, and it would begin to absorb the skeletal remains of Robotropolis.

            "Gary, no."

            Sonic halted in the shadows. There were two figures half a block ahead, feline in appearance.

            "We can't live together. We agreed it wouldn't work out."

            Gary stared down Kate. After all this time, he could scarcely believe that the litter he and Kate had made was all inside there. The big belly looked out of place on her slim figure.

            "You rejected me, just because we have kids. Could be four or five or six, and they'll need more than one parent to support them."

            Kate stepped backward, regretting every night they had spent together.            "Gary," she began, one paw holding her handbag and the other over her belly, "It'd be better for them. We don't love each other, we couldn't raise them…"

            "Don't love each other? All that time we…" he struggled for words, then stared urgently into her eyes, a sort of wild light in them, "You think that isn't love?"

            "That's not love, Gary,"

            "Then what is?"

            He stepped forward and grabbed the wrist she held over their children. Kate uttered a small painful cry, trying to get away...

            "That's enough."

            Sonic was suddenly there, snatching Gary's paw away from Kate. She started to shake her head, _no, don't get involved in this._

"This isn't your concern," Gary hissed, retracting his paw as if bitten. Sonic coolly gazed into the wild light of Gary's eyes. Kate was an almost forgotten presence, a bystander.

            "I think it is. I happen to know Kate. She works twelve hours every day of the week, balancing the books at the pizzeria. I've seen her walking home sometimes while I'm having a good time at the bar. You'd swear she was trying to punish herself, if you didn't know that she had kids on the way."

            "And that makes you her bodyguard? You're not a part of this, or are you?"

            He rounded on Kate who cringed at his loud angry voice.

            "You been sleepin' with him?"

Several lights went on in the windows above and across the street. Heads were beginning to appear, complaining that we don't care who slept with whom, just let us sleep. Gary whipped his head around like a criminal cornered by an angry mob. He sneered at Sonic, and ran away, his tail flicking angrily behind. 

"You're Okay?" 

Kate shook her head. Sonic saw that her eyes were moist.

"He's angry now. He'll hurt me, and my…"

            She looked down at her swollen womb and the tears came quietly, with small quiet sobs. Sonic gently held her arms and touched his forehead with hers. Her sobs subsided after a while and she was holding him, too.

            "Thank you," she murmured and disengaged herself, "You must've done this before, huh?"

            "Hundreds of times. Can't have women crying all over Knothole for lost husbands or boyfriends, they'd drive me nuts." 

            "Must make Sally jealous," she sniffed, smiling a bit.

            "What?" he asked, amused, "She used to be one of them. C'mon, I'll take you home." __

Gary watched their silhouettes meld into the darkness. He would get Kate later. When Sonic was not around. He thought of Lilac. She might have other boyfriends, but if she had any kittens, he wouldn't hear of it. Wouldn't have to be _responsible._ He turned to the alley behind him (there were many shortcuts to Lilac's place) and saw twin jade half-moons hovering in the darkness.

            "You'll do," a female voice purred. A paw clamped onto his own and drew him into the alley. 

            "Listen, lady, I have somewhere to go." 

            He had no patience with the other hookers in this city. They were low-class, disease-infested animals, that could knife you and take your money while you laid there bleeding. Lilac was clean, had her own place and had enough class to pay the rent, and then some.

            "Ooh, so angry," the hooker purred. Gary was unwillingly, but very thoroughly, kissed. He tried to pull away (he had mouth sores once, and didn't want them again) but found himself relaxing instead. This gal knew her stuff, and didn't taste like cigarettes or cheap whiskey. Their tongues played with each other awhile and she did things with her claws that drove all questions out of his mind.

            "Come with me," she breathed into his ear. 

            Hell, Lilac could survive one night without him.


	2. A Black Sky

Chapter 2 – A Black Sky

            His toes were killing him.

            Why God had seen it fit to give him ingrown toenails, Emess did not know. A year after he had been exiled from all Overlander communities, his malformed toenails had made themselves known. 

Hey, Emess, you can't ignore us toenails. We're going to infect you every now and then just so you don't get bored. Oh, and we're raising bets for when you cut your toes off just to stop the god-awful pain.

 He had hacked at them with sharp stones, tried to pry them loose and they only hurt even more. And how they hurt. Twenty jagged knives fixed deep into each side of his ten toes, the nails felt as if they would burst out of his flesh with every step he took. He tried to ignore them. And tried, and failed, and tried again. Then, God took pity on Emess, but He didn't let him off right away. Two years after they had started gnawing into his toes, Emess found a shiny stainless-steel thing, abandoned just outside the camp of Overlanders.

Hallelujah, praises to God, the Lord is mighty! He had found a nail-clipper. He remembered screaming aloud while snipping for the first time in three years. Lord knows, he never knew they were _that _deep, but good God, he just didn't care. In less than six hours (had to take a few breaks from self-inflicted torture, you know) he had removed the offending toenails and wept for joy while blood flowed from his feet like a river.

Well, now his toes were killing him again. Nails don't stop growing until you're dead. He bit his lower lip hard and resolutely dug into his big toe.

***

The nail-clipper dangled from his neck on a tarnished silver chain while he tramped through the forest. His toes stung but the pain was bearable, maybe he had missed a few splinters. A few days ago the birds had brought him rumours of a Freedom Fighter City, where all the furry folk from the Great Forest now lived. Indoor plumbing, electric light and all sorts of gadgets he hadn't laid eyes upon for well over two decades. He saw the tallest buildings, long before the trees had thinned out, and broke into a run. Jubel bounded on all fours at his side, she ran faster that way. 

"It's going to be bigger than the Forest, the birds said."

"Will they accept us?"

"They will. We're all forest folk, right?"

Jubel looked into the clear brown eyes of Emess.

"Will they accept _you_?"

Emess looked down at his stolen clothes. Five years after being kicked out from his home village, he had to find new clothes or else he'd be walking around naked with some frayed strings here and there on his shoulders. So he thought, the Overlanders steal from the forest, so it's only fair that the forest steals from the Overlanders. Shoes were out of the equation, permanently. When he was lucky he stole khaki pants, and sometimes even denim jeans. A jersey would do for a couple of months. For this occasion, however, he had stolen a white designer shirt and black trousers a size too small for him. Damn outfit was tight in the armpits and groin but he didn't want to try another raid until next month.

"No fur."

"But you have us. That should convince them you're a friend."

"We'll see, God willing. How about thirty of us storm the city in two days?"

"What, like an Overlander base?"

"It won't be any less of a surprise to them."

***

To three hundred and ninety four people, Freedom Fighter City did not mean "Freedom."

The Penitentiary (the officials didn't have the heart to name it "Freedom Penitentiary") was a compact mass of gray buildings near the heart of the city. There were 2,000 cells: ten by ten feet, two inmates per cell. Just because it was at 10% holding capacity did not mean its inmates got private cells. The bigger a city, the higher its crime rates, and FF City was going to be _big, _the mayor promised. And it was the mayor (to be politically correct, their hatred _of_ the mayor) who had encouraged most of those inmates to become criminals, in the name of ARM.

The Anti-Robotropolis Movement was formed to oppose the mayor's most momentous decision (made one week after being installed as mayor, oh how the voters regretted choosing _him_ after that speech):

"FF City will grow until, like a giant white blood cell, it will absorb the diseased remains of Robotropolis! A healthy future awaits our great city!"

 Most of the crowd was confused with the biological analogy but they understood anyway. 

"We don't want our children to grow up on that bloody land!"

Countless arguments ensued (_will your children even care? _Of course they will, we'll tell them stories!), which the new mayor stood up to bravely. At the end he was forced to leave the 'discussion' under a hail of bottles and whatever readily available trash the angry mob could find. Thus ARM was born. They didn't want the mayor simply booted out of office; they wanted to kill him.

Between the hours of nine to five, however, killing the mayor was proven to be impossible because of the mayor's bodyguard (hastily hired but well chosen). It was this bodyguard who cheerfully (and sometimes angrily) delivered inmates to the Penitentiary.

Reyes was one of those inmates who had felt the angry side of the mayor's bodyguard ("Hell?"). He was now bald, with memorable burn scars across his pate and face. The rest of him was a snub-nosed black canine of indeterminate breed. Time in the slammer had caused Reyes to wax poetic. He scribbled on his wall whenever the muse took him. His cellmate Zeb, not an ARM member, loathed the continual scritch-scratch of Reyes' claw on the wall, sometimes at two in the morning. Zeb couldn't get violent or else the guards would throw him into solitary, and Zeb was claustrophobic. 

_"Vengeance on the fire, my ire, burns higher…"_

Zeb disliked it even more when Reyes quoted. He turned to the wall and jammed the flat pillow against his ears. He wished for sleep… Wait, there was the guard bringing breakfast. But there was no sunlight in the cell. Zeb sat up and listened. Three pairs of boots were clomping closer. He heard other cells stirring, but then fall silent as the boots passed. 

All along the corridor there were light bulbs in iron cages screwed to the ceiling. At night they were dim. Three figures, masked, were outside Reyes' and Zeb's cell, and by the pale yellow light Zeb saw the mystery guests were armed.

 "How'd you get past the guards?"

Reyes was talking to them. Zeb scrunched himself back against the wall and stopped moving.

"Tranquilizers in their coffee. We're here to set you free, Reyes."

Oh, the sweet breath of relief!

"I knew ARM wouldn't let me rot here. I just need new equipment and a suit maybe, that smartass bodyguard won't know…"

Zeb thought he heard a discreet fart come from one of the three. He heard the sound five times more before his eyes became wide and he remembered what that sound meant.

_"Silencers make a funny noise when they work…"_

"You shouldn't have sold out Justin, Reyes."

Zeb heard something sit heavily and then fall over. The scent of blood filled his nostrils until the guards served breakfast four hours later, and screamed.

***

            "Who da baby? Are you da baby? Yes you are, yesh you are!"

            Sally was nose to nose with her child Paula, a girl squirrel, and the cutest most flawless bundle of brown fur Mobius had ever beheld. She was also squalling something awful in the happy home of Sonic and Sally Hedgehog.

            "Here, let me try,"

            Sonic still had trouble believing he and his wife were, uh, compatible. The genetic chaos he thought he had started (the kid will be a mutant, Destiny help us) had ended up in _her,_ Paula, who was undeniably squirrel and nothing else. 

"Toss the baby!"

Paula jumped three feet out of his paws and he caught her again.

"_Sonic!_ What are you doing?"

"Don't worry Sal, she likes it!"

            The volume of bawls increased. Sally took her (What does a hedgehog know about raising a squirrel?) and tried shushing her with more coos and baby talk. She was incorrigible after ten minutes with her mother. They had changed her diaper, fed her enough, burped her, and changed her diaper again, so what on Mobius was wrong with her? 

All this madness, and _another_ baby on the way?                       

            Lazer poked his quilled head through the door.

            "Good morning?"

            "No," the couple said, now seated on their sofa. Lazer leaned against the doorframe and smiled at the baby's loud protests at life in general.

            "How is she?"

            "Deafening," Sally replied.

            "What's up, samurai boy?" Sonic asked. He had to leave for work in a few minutes: it was his only reason for escape. Sally was using a rattle while the child caterwauled. He'd give _a__nything_ to get away from this constant noise.

            "In today's headlines, someone was murdered, in The Penitentiary. ARM left their calling card."

            Sonic was on his feet, glancing anxiously at the open door.

            "Well, I'd better head off to work."

            "Whoa, mister, not with this banshee," Sally warned. The pain on Sonic's face was palpable. Damn, damn, damn, he _needed_ to go to work.

            "She wants to be warm," Lazer suggested.

            "But she's wrapped in a blanket. And she has a lot of fur for a two-month old."

            "I mean," Lazer said, "The warmth from _here," _he placed a paw against his chest. Sonic smirked.

            And there was peace.

Paula lay between Sally's breasts in perfect contentment. Her amazing green eyes opened, staring at Sonic with curious intelligence (at least she inherited _something_ from me, he thought).

"The heartbeat," Lazer explained. He crooked a finger at Sonic and left the house.

"His kid's not even born yet, and he knows more than both of us," Sally murmured.

"He cheats. It's the Emeralds, has to be. Bye Sal."

A brief kiss, then Sally was left in the company of her two children, one unborn. It was November 20th, a Monday.

***

            "I don't know what to buy her for our first anniversary."

            "You haven't forgotten? That's amazing."

            Soon the wasteland between the Great Forest and FF City would become urbanized. Right now the landscape was post-apocalyptic, with mounds of robotic remains strewn about. Here was the greatest battlefield between the Freedom Fighters and Robotropolis. Lazer grinned wryly as they sped past a particularly battle-scarred area, remembering a dark feline girl and her Emerald.

            "I dunno if I should take her to a restaurant, or for a walk on the beach, or if we should just stay at home and take care of Paula."

            "My anniversary's April 16th next year. Ashlar will be born before then, and I bet I'll be in the same dilemma."

            "You're not helping me, samurai boy."

            Traces of civilization began to appear. Bulldozers clearing the ground, workmen were setting up electricity pylons for future households. Progress. 

            "You know where I work?"

            "San Agustín Pizzeria?"

            "The owner is promoting me to manager."

            "That takes care of the kid's college fund."

            "You read my mind… hey!"

            "Sorry. Ever since Rebecca got pregnant it's become easier to pick up thoughts, and other things."

"Then you'd better stay the hell away from my house at night, samurai boy."

            Laughing, they hit the pavements and slowed their pace among the local pedestrians. They easily hopped over the traffic at stoplights (there weren't any laws prohibiting _jumping_ the lights) and entered San Agustín Pizzeria. Sonic clocked in one minute early and picked up his personalized hat from the rack. 

            "Thought you were manager?"

            "Not until I finish my training courses. I'm gonna _hate_ the paperwork but the pay's astronomical compared to what I'm doing now."

            "Sonic!" a voice called from the open kitchen door, "Twenty nine orders for breakfast!"

            "No prob!" he called back. He said to Lazer, "Hey, have breakfast here why doncha? Put the mayor's money to good use, for a change."

            "Nah, I have work too, and don't you think my wife took care of breakfast?"

            "And I wonder what else. Whatever man, see you later."

***

            Freedom Hall was a place of sunshine and long shadows. Lazer walked directly into the mayor's office, bypassing all security with an ID card issued by the city council. The monarchy of the Acorn family would regain control when its army (severely depleted by the war) was replenished. Until then King Acorn entrusted the city and citizens to the mayor.

            "Ah, it's my life preserver. Are you sure you won't reconsider living in my household? Muriel and I have rooms to spare for any family you have."

            "Good Morning, Sir," Lazer began, standing a respectful distance from the sizeable teak desk, "Permission to speak freely?"

"This isn't a military institute, boy, go ahead," the Mayor chuckled.

"Rebecca and I will have a son in about three months. We are considering the purchase of our own house in this great city. Therefore I request a larger salary, both for the house and for the future of my son."

            The mayor smiled easily. He was proud of his smile; it had made him the first mayor of a thriving metropolis. He was also proud of his people skills, and his ability to deal with… subordinates.

            "Lazer. You have been my bodyguard for, what, a year and a half now? You are exceptional in your work. After all, I'm still alive after precisely fifty nine attempts on my life."

            "Fifteen of which have been in the last month. Mayor, ARM is becoming desperate. They've already killed one of their telltale members. When my family comes to this city, ARM will undoubtedly attack them in order to get to me. To continue my services, I require a fifty percent pay raise."

            The mayor chuckled at Lazer's forwardness.

            "Lazer. As you said, ARM is becoming desperate. They will not last much longer. The truth is, I do not perceive the need to increase your pay when the single threat to my life is about to dwindle away."

            Lazer smiled.

            "Very well. I resign. I do, after all, need to think of my child's future. Here is the card of my new employer, they offered me triple whatever you're paying me."

            Lazer placed the card – the same card he had found in The Penitentiary – onto the mayor's desk. Three golden letters were printed neatly in serif style: ARM.

            The mayor became deathly pale.

            "B – But you cannot! The police, the Acorn family would be against you! And… and I will hire mercenaries!"

            "You threaten _me_ with your police force?" 

Lazer laughed softly and the mayor sweated.

"There is no lost love between the Acorn family and I. As for your mercenaries, they are all sympathetic to ARM."

            Lazer turned to go.

            "Goodbye."

            "Wait! Don't go! I… I'll pay you the fifty percent extra."

            The ruse was successful, but Lazer was saddened. The flood of emotions and thoughts, that only he could hear, flashed from the mayor's mind to his.

            _The years that I've spent wondering if I would amount to anything… now my city is growing so well…I can't die now…_

The mayor suffered from an all-too-common problem: a lack of meaning. What would his life mean if he did not survive ARM? He would be written off in the history books as "The first rejected draft", not the pioneer that led FF City into its golden age.

            "I'm sorry for you."

            "What did you say?"

            "Nothing, Sir. Thank you."

***

            During Sonic's lunch hour his wristband beeped.

            "Huh?"

            Tails' voice followed.

            "Sonic. Hey! Sonic!"

            Between chews of breadsticks dipped in hot sauce he pressed the small "Talk" button.

            "Yo, Tails. What up?"

            "Knuckles' back!"

            "Mmph?"

            Sonic spat out what remained of his lunch.

            "You kidding me?"

            "No. He's back! Julie-Su called…"

            "Give me a minute."

            When Sonic said to 'give him a minute', he meant it. He clocked out (tossed his hat on the rack) and tore up the ground all the way back to Knothole.

            "Status report!"

            He crashed into the side of Tails' hut and stumbled through the door. Tails took off his headset and handed it to Sonic. The familiar female voice came through the headphones.

            "Sonic?"

            "Su. He's really back?"

            "Yeah. I didn't think of calling until just now."

            "How is he?"

            "He didn't sleep at all last night. I'm so…"

            "Worried, yeah. Oh, man, six years..."

            He turned to Tails.

            "We're going."

            Tails took his pilot's goggles down from a shelf.

            "We're there."

***

            A cloudless, soft blue sky reflected the deep dark ocean glittering in the hot sunshine. Sonic noticed neither. Feeling cramped in the seat behind Tails he wished there weren't so many mysteries surrounding Knuckles. Born the Guardian of Floating Isle, being confused about his place in life, and utterly disappearing for six long years, to suddenly return without warning... 

            "Hope you found answers," Sonic muttered. 

The Tornado taxied to a halt on the landing strip. Julie-Su and the Chaotix were waiting, with Knuckles.

"Red!"

Sonic jumped out of the Tornado and looked at his red echidna comrade. Knuckles was taller, his dreadlocks an entire foot longer. A hint of stubble was on his chin. Most of all, those dark eyes of his (once blue, now green) were grimmer than ever.

"Blue. You and Tails are the first two."

"Um. What?"

Knuckles took in a deep breath and recited in a loud voice,

"Two, greatest of friends. One sleepless Guardian. One Master of Five. One perceives the truth. One in whom all magic lives. And one mistress of darkness."

The six others were agape at Knuckles, unable to react to this outburst. Even the wind had stopped. Sonic, feeling he was on the verge of something weird and wonderful, spoke first.

"What?"

Knuckles coughed and glared at him.

"Those are the Seven that I must find. Two, greatest of friends, one…"

"Yeah, yeah. Hold it. You come back after all this time to recite bad poetry and not a word of _where you've been?"_

            Those frowning eyes were far away, looking at some other time and place, while he spoke.

"I've been with the Ancient Walkers. They allowed me to experience several epochs in history, especially what happened about two years ago when _five_ of the Seven appeared. I believe, now, my purpose was to gather this knowledge of history. I have already found all seven beings."

Sonic was patient. He knew, firsthand, how much the Three Walkers could change someone.

            "Red, why are these Seven so important? Did the Ancients tell you?"

            Great sadness replaced the mystery in Knuckles' eyes.

            "More than tell me, oh, how much more than simply tell me! They made me _know_the…"

            The calm air was disturbed. It had begun to move, quickening the dust underfoot. 

Knuckles suddenly looked stricken with… _fear._ The pupils in his eyes became tiny dots of terror as he backed away from Sonic, from Tails, from Julie-Su and the Chaotix. In one sweeping motion he pointed his paw to the heavens.

            _"They made me know the Evil that is coming!"_

And they all felt it then, the _fear_ that Knuckles felt. They dared not look upward but their eyes would not be spared. And they heard it! A deep, deadly roar, coming from…

            The sky. The sky had changed.

A fathomless vortex was growing larger, infecting the clear blue colour of the sky with an ugly, disgusting shade of black. It roared and raged with untamed fury and black lightning, declaring its presence to the citizens of Floating Isle that were paralyzed with fear. And Knuckles, eyes ablaze, his dreadlocks streaming like snakes in the wild gales of wind, with one paw upheld to the new horror, thundered in the voice of a Prophet of Doom,

            _"He… is… **here!**"_

_***_

            Lazer jumped upward. Cabinet members murmured. The mayor choked on his sip of water. Without a word of apology Lazer flew out the nearest open window and about two miles above FF City. Far, far away a monstrous storm was gathering.

            "By the Walkers. It's begun."

***

            A certain black feline with eyes of jade awoke with a gasp. Forgetting the warm male in bed beside her (still asleep, the oaf) she hurried, tripping over their clothes strewn on the floor, and stuck her head out the apartment window. FF City was oblivious to the threat that her psychic sense was fully alert to.

            "The servant's master! But I'm not ready…"

***

            Emess frowned. A new voice was calling to all of Mobius, supremely triumphant. He could hear the mysterious new Presence, speaking of power and of glory, but its undertones were of pride and lies, the voice held a nameless Evil.

            "Emess?" Jubel said. She had seen the darkness overshadow his face, and knew something was very wrong. In a tone of voice he had not used in thirteen years, he spoke:

            "And the Lord said, you shall have no other gods before me…"

***

Sonic was aware of a trembling Tails welded onto his arm. Julie-Su approached Knuckles and reached for him, Knuckles responded and drew her close. The Chaotix were clinging together, reduced to four frightened children.

            But the vortex was not done yet. A roaring funnel reached down from the epicenter of the vortex, swirling with the vilest colour of black. It hovered menacingly above a particular spot on Floating Isle.

            "The Emerald Chamber! He can't be allowed to reach the Master!" Knuckles shouted above the sound and fury. Shrugging off Julie-Su he broke into a desperate run. Sonic dragged Tails along with him, not knowing what else to think or do. 

The funnel was so close to the ground now, about to become a tornado. Small animals and all other sorts of critters scrambled terrified in its wake. Knuckles led Sonic and Tails into the underground cavern and the three of them had just enough time to place their paws upon the Master Emerald when the black tornado struck home.

They were protected in a bubble of green light while the chamber dissolved around them in a cyclone of indescribable violence. The Seven Server Emeralds that once ringed the Master whirled upward.

They shattered. And then even the shattered fragments were gone.

"By the Walkers," Knuckles said, "I have seen a Chaos Emerald broken into pieces, but never _completely destroyed…"_

"Red. What the hell is going on here?" Sonic yelled. The tornado raged all around them with increased fury, but was unable to pop the protective green bubble.

"The Ancient Walkers call him… Thanatos!"

"Thanatos?"

"Thanatos," Tails whimpered, "All my nightmares came true. Oh Sonic I'm so scared, I'm so scared!"

Even when safe under the Master Chaos shield, Tails clung tightly to Sonic. His eyes were screwed up and leaking tears.

"Fourteen years, and still a kid," Sonic sighed. He patted Tails' head and asked Knuckles, "Can we, like, get out of here?"

"I believe that I can move it…"

Knuckles closed his eyes and paced both paws firmly on the smooth facets of the Master. The green bubble carried its occupants out of harm's destructive way and rested them gently beside Julie-Su and the Chaotix. The ground was shaking convulsively beneath.

"Hey! You're alive!" Espio called by way of greeting.

"That thing's drilling a hole all the way through Floating Isle! I can feel it. We can all feel it!" Mighty announced. They waited a few seconds more and, sure enough, there was a great cracking sound and the ground moved in waves. Everyone fell over, except the Master, which floated calmly above, and Charmy, whose wings saved him.

"Thanatos hasn't just drilled a hole," Knuckles said, "He's split the entire Island in half! Look at the mountains!"

The southern end of Floating Isle, that held Lava Reef and other mountains, was sinking from their view.

"Great Destiny!" cried Julie-Su, "But that means the other half will fall!"

"You're right!" yelled Knuckles, "Without the Master Emerald, or the Server Emeralds, the other half doesn't have any support!"

Helplessly, everyone watched the mountains disappear from sight. The demonic tornado, seemingly satisfied with its handiwork, retreated to its dark source in the sky. The fearful vortex receded, and closed with a murmur of thunder. The sky became blue again.

But half of Floating Isle crashed into the sea.

_A beautiful creature of Light he was, moving smoothly across the ground as a serpent might slither over sand._

_"It is he," the Living Creatures cried, reaching for their swords, but by the prompting of the Word, they checked their zeal. As the creature of Light passed, the Living Creatures turned their eyes away, one by one._

_There it was - The Sword of Fire that turned in all directions! His own sword in hand, he approached, and The Sword (with a radiance of ten thousand suns) turned to face him._

_With a single mighty stroke a fragment was carved off The Sword! So violent was the blow that the fragment flew heavenward and was seen no more. The Sword of Fire retaliated with a single stroke, also, grievously burning him with divine fire. A roar of rage went up and the Light of his being diminished, giving way to the Darkness within. He struck once more, but he was weak, and a smaller fragment was cut, flying skyward never to be seen again. A second blow from The Sword of Fire broke his own sword and forced him to retreat. Astonishing was this power! His beautiful wings smouldered with pain. He swore vengeance a thousand times over until the flaming Sword began to move toward him. With terror in his eyes he slithered away, from the holy Host and The Sword, never to challenge such power until the final day…_


	3. The First Union

Chapter 3 – The First Union

One thousand kilometers away, the destruction wrought upon Floating Island had caused an old salamander to awake from his hammock and walk into the foamy green waters offshore.

            He stood among the waves. They crashed indifferently onto his unmoving body. Wet salty air filled his lungs and he exhaled slowly while foam bubbled down his craggy face. 

            So, they had told him to wait. He had asked them the most profound question of all: _Why?_ They had responded, _Wait._

            You could not argue with gods once they made up their minds. 

            The heavy splash of salt water against his wrinkled skin reminded him that he was alive. It stung. It coldly kissed his eyes.

            One thousand years of life and not a single explanation as to what his purpose was. He felt the sea run down his arms and legs in briny rivulets. The sea could not think; it was unaware of _being_, and yet its purpose was to support all life on Mobius. 

            But what was the purpose of life? What was the end result of reality? The question had bothered him since he was six years and very, very old for his age.

***

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles had retreated to Corona Den with the Master Emerald. Julie Su and the Chaotix were helping survivors of the Great Divide of Floating Isle, so it would be recorded in History.

The trio contemplated the Master, fixed in the air, casting its gentle green glow about the golden walls.

"What's the plan of action, Red? You said the Walkers prepared you for this, this Thanatos thing."

"Yes. _He_ is powerful, but the Seven will win if they all agree to help."

"Why wouldn't they help?" Tails said, "This is worse than Robotnik…"

Knuckles nodded at Tails.

"You've had nightmares for weeks now, I know, but you never told anyone. That is because you are one of the Seven, Tails. You are destined to stop the Dark God Thanatos with the help of six others."

Tails' eyes resembled dinner plates.

"Hold up, Thanatos is a _god?"_

"Yes Sonic, a god, like Destiny and Fate. In fact, very _much_ like Destiny and Fate, but that will be revealed later. What matters now is our union. We are three…"

Footsteps reached their ears. Darting glances at the entrance/exit tunnel, Lazer appeared.

"…And now we are four," Knuckles finished.

"Hello," Lazer began, "I was called here, although…"

He beheld the Master for the first time and said, "Oh."

Knuckles and Lazer were introduced.

"The Walkers are frustrating, aren't they?" Lazer asked, shaking paws, reading the echidna mind.

"Endlessly," Knuckles sighed, "They overdo the 'mysterious' side of being gods."

Before more questions could be asked, the light of Corona Den dimmed and a dark, shapely figure swept in, tail and cape flicking behind her.

"You!" Lazer cried, reaching for his sword.

"It's her!" said Sonic, bringing up his fists.

"Whoa!" shouted Tails, jumping backward.

"What?" she gasped.

The hedgehogs and kitsune glared at the bewildered feline. She still wore a black, reflective cape but the jersey and flares she wore were a startling white. 

"Why couldn't I sense you before?" Lazer demanded, paw ready on the sword hilt. 

"A Block spell! I didn't want you following me all over the city!"

"You _should _be followed, you escaped from Dark Jewel Isle again, didn't you?"

"I did not! The Elders let me go…"

Knuckles stepped between them.

"Stop. Internal conflict will lead us to failure."

"Excuse me," she said, composing herself, "Why did the Master call me?"

Knuckles grinned at her.

"You will fight against the new darkness, Hannah Nyress."

Her jade eyes lowered.

"I was a servant of a servant of Darkness. I thought I was called to serve the Darkness Himself, the master of my former master."

Knuckles rested a paw on her shoulder.

"Fate has a way of bending itself double. Not all servants are meant to follow their master forever. Indeed, the servant may overcome her master."

Hannah looked into Knuckles' eyes, the same colour as hers.

"If we fail?"

"We will not."

Turning to address them all, Knuckles stood beside the Master Emerald.

"The Four of you will now place a paw each upon this Emerald. What happens after, the Walkers do not say. Trust in the Master, and Destiny, and you will find out."

"What about you?" asked Sonic.

"Me? I know my destiny. It remains for the four of you to understand yours!"

Without other options, Sonic, Tails, Lazer and Hannah touched the Master Emerald.

***

_Hannah Nyress._

Dark Jewel Island. First a bird's eye view she saw, and then moved nearer until she stood upon one of its five beaches. Others like her were running, or trying to hide, or merely standing with eyes upturned. She looked upward and the sky was black, a deeper more intense darkness than she had ever seen. 

_What purpose does he have here, on Mobius? Is he here to conquer? Or is it the Chaos Emeralds?_

Hannah heard the telepathic speech of the three Elders speaking amongst themselves. People, living inhabitants of the Island, were surging around the Elders, kneeling before them, crying their names, and imploring the Elders to save them from the new horror. The Elders looked upward while their people groaned.

_His immediate purpose is to free that which belongs to him._

_But can he set free, what the Ancient Walkers themselves imprisoned?_

A shaft of black light fell upon the heart of Dark Jewel Isle. The people screamed.

_He knows._

_He will be set free._

_But the prophecy…_

The Elders died then, and the entire Island with them, as the black light shone darker. Thousands of screams faded into shocking silence.

A terrible thing was awakening upon Dark Jewel Island. Hannah saw it stand up, heard it shout a cry of victory, and the black light strengthened it.

Hannah wept.

***

_Lazer._

Flying: not what Nature intended for a hedgehog, but he loved it. The surreal feeling of unsupported flight outmatched any airplane journey he had taken so very long ago. Machines were heavy, unnatural, and awkward. When _he_ flew, it was the most natural, weightless and carefree sensation. Rebecca loved to fly with him…

But his thoughts were drifting. Four islets formed a green and brown ring against the dark blue ocean beneath him. The water in the center of the islet ring was greenish gold. The will of the Master Emerald guided his thoughts downward for a closer look at the tropical palm branches and white sand beaches.

"I've been here before… it's been six years," he thought. When that thought crossed his mind, a Voice spoke. It was male, fathomless, and eternal in its tone.

"Lazer, your wish will be granted there."

"My wish?"

"For death."

He and the Voice became silent. In a blur of movement the Master pulled his mind's eye to a small waterfall on one of the islets. At the base of the waterfall, water vapour created a rainbow as the strong sunlight passed through it.

"Seven colours. Seven Super Emeralds were destroyed just now…"

Just as suddenly his mind's eye was lifter to a _higher_ plane. Light, colour, matter and non-matter all flowed through his body. At the center of his vision was a place where all the points of the Universe converged. The Master led his mind toward that point.

"What? It's Sonic!"

Sonic opened his eyes, clenched his paws and exploded with golden light. His fur became gold; even his quills changed shape…

"But it's not the end of his power," Lazer said, not knowing how he knew. 

Tails emerged from the focal point of infinity and was beside Sonic. He powered up to become Turbo Tails, cape and all.

Then Knuckles arrived, his eyes burning bright as Hyper Knuckles.

And finally _he_ was there.

"Me?"

Lazer looked at Lazer. His mirror image became transparent, allowing him to see the five Chaos Emeralds within his being. They began to glow with an intensity he had never seen or felt before, even brighter than when he had first used Wanrikken!

Lazer transformed into Hyper Lazer. But he did not glow gold, he instead wore blue metallic armour that fitted like a second skin: a helmet with an image of the Master Emerald on his forehead; body armour, also with the Master Emerald upon his chest; his gloves were now gauntlets; his boots were of the blue metal, as well. His quills were coated with the flexible blue metal, becoming even deadlier and sharper. 

"I look like a Mecha Lazer, not a Hyper Lazer," he thought, "Why do _I_ need armour?"

If he had resembled a red sun before, he was now a red supernova of Chaos energy, beside the other three Super forms. The sword he carried on his back was also of the blue metal.

"Our purpose is to fight, then, we have always fought for the side of Good."

"Yes," the Voice began again, "But do _you_ fight on the side of Life?"

"I do!"

"Then why do you wish for death, Lazer?"

"Because… I don't want to be alone."

With that, eternity receded from view and all became white silence.

***

Sonic floated in the deep green ocean with pale golden sky above, his vessel a small canoe. He had awoken thus, and now peered around at the shore-less green, the canoe bobbing gently. He reached one paw tentatively overboard… and brought up a fistful of green Chaos Emeralds.

"What am I doing here again? I didn't collect a billion rings since before!"

There was no Ancient Walker sitting in the canoe with him, though. He decided to wait for something to happen; he wasn't going swimming if land wasn't in sight.

            Somewhere between thoughts of Sally and how hungry he was, the canoe rocked once and was still. 

            Sonic blinked and Tails was there. The young fox was panting for breath, one arm over the side of the canoe and the other paw holding his heart.

            "Didn't you… see me?" he asked.

            "Uh… absent minded?" Sonic grinned, and then frowned, "What were you doing?"

            "Fl… flying!" Tails gasped, "I was flying forever! There was nowhere to land and then I saw this boat with you and fell into it…"

            "Calm down. It's not a real ocean," Sonic showed him his paw full of glittering Emeralds. Tails gaped and also took a fistful of green jewels from the ocean.

            "It's what you said happened years ago. Where're the Ancient Walkers? And shouldn't you be running around a big gold Ring?"

            In answer to that, the golden sky became darker and the ocean became angry. The canoe was soon being tossed by tall, shining Emerald waves, although there was no wind. The millions of Emeralds were making a curious, soft ringing music as they churned over each other.

            Sonic and Tails held on, not bothering to speak. They did not speak, even when they were sucked into a whirling Emerald funnel that shot them upward to the dark sky. 

            The canoe was gone, now, and they were flying upward beyond any imaginable speed. 

            Suddenly, they were on firm ground. 

            "Now this makes no sense," Sonic complained, "Why couldn't we have been put here in the first place?"

            "Maybe we had to pass through a portal to get here?" Tails thought aloud.

            They were on a clump of rock that was, oddly, suspended in outer space. The star constellations were unfamiliar and strange.

            A Voice, as expansive as the Void about them, yet gentle and feminine, spoke.

            "The test of your friendship will be to bring forth seven new Chaos Emeralds from the Void, mighty among their kind, to replace those Thanatos destroyed. Without these seven Emeralds, the Union cannot be completed with Mobius and the Seven beings."

The Voice paused, and became grimmer.

"Thanatos knows no friendship, he trusts none: because of this, friendship is a weapon against him. Nurture it, and you will live."

***

Knuckles saw Hannah fall to her knees beside the Master Emerald. Sonic, Tails and Lazer removed their paws from it and looked at the stricken feline. Lazer gasped as his mind touched hers.

"What's up with dark sorceress here?" Sonic asked. Hannah glared at him, tears stood in her eyes.

"I am no longer of the Darkness! At home, the Elders converted me to Light. I thought that over time I would ignore their teachings and return to the Darkness, but now I am convinced, it is a path to death!"

With those words she stood up and ran from Corona Den.

"Leave her be," Knuckles warned, "She is returning to a home that no longer exists."

Lazer was still in shock by what he had seen in Hannah's mind. Dark Jewel Isle was no more! Her home was gone… just like his home…

Sonic was waving a paw in Lazer's face.

"Wake up, samurai boy."

            Lazer snapped himself to attention.

            "What?"

            "I was saying that me and Tails have to find seven new Super Emeralds. What do you have to do?"

            "To have a rendezvous with Fate, once more," he replied darkly, and walked out of the Den. Sonic shook his head and spread his paws palms up.

            "As mysterious as you are, Red."

            "All is uncertainty. Now, about your task."

Knuckles stepped toward the Master Emerald and touched it. He held out his free paw.

"Come with me, Sonic and Tails! To the place where Chaos Emeralds are born!"


	4. Birth of Seven Emeralds

Chapter 4 – Birth of Seven Emeralds

            _"Behold! Three have entered the realm of Birth."_

_            "Two will attempt what none other has dared."_

_            "The echidna is conscripted to be their guide."_

            "Here, it begins."

            Sonic, Tails and Knuckles contemplated the glittering sapphire ocean. Waves rolled gently onto the white sand, as the fresh sea breeze ruffled their furs.

            "Where are we, Red?"

            Knuckles turned around and started at the sight of Angel Isle beach spread out before them.

            "My home! But it is not in the sky. This is _before_ the Floating Isle gained its name."

            "We're in the past?" wondered Tails.

            "No," said Knuckles with certainty, "It is a… recreation of sorts. The forces in this realm are beyond our comprehension, so the Walkers made a reality we could understand."

He gestured expansively with his arms.

"Unless the Walkers have other plans, there are seven Super Emeralds waiting to be born here."

            "Born? Weren't all Chaos Emeralds created two thousand years ago in our time?" asked Sonic. 

Knuckles grinned.

            "You shouldn't be concerned with the _how_, Blue, because you're about to be worried with the _why_."

            Knuckles searched their eyes before he explained.

            "As you know, the Chaos Emeralds give you supernatural bodies…"

            "And with seven Super Emeralds I'll go straight to Hyper Sonic, but yeah, go on."

            "…Apart from that, users of Chaos Emeralds can command their respective elements. You, Tails, control Air."

            "That's pretty obvious, I guess."

            Knuckles addressed Sonic.

            "But you, the only one to have _two_ levels of power, can control them all!"

            Sonic raised an eyebrow.

            "I always knew I was special. But how to control them?"

            "Belief."

            With that, Knuckles promptly winked out of existence. Sonic and Tails jumped in alarm.

            "How'd he do that?" Sonic demanded, "That wasn't Chaos Control!"

            "Uh, Sonic?"

            A living darkness of blackest midnight was spreading its shadow slowly toward the Isle. Tails, remembering it from one of his nightmares, pointed to it with trembling paw.

            "Him!"

            Sonic began to run up the beach. Tails shook his head (this is no time for kid's stuff) and followed.

            "Come on, Tails! We suddenly have a time limit to get the Emeralds!"

***

            Gathering several golden rings, they came across their first enemy, a mechanical monkey that was rudely pelting them with coconuts.

            "You sure this isn't the real deal?" asked Tails as Sonic knocked out the robot with one of its own coconuts, "The flora, the terrain… identical!"

            "But _that_ isn't."

            A light blue sphere of light emerged from the robot's remains and the world fell away before their eyes…

            A winding mountain trail, stretching upward to infinity, greeted their sight. Sonic spun around several times, taking in their new surroundings. They were standing upon a (quite solid) cloud, the ground below could not be seen, lost in darkness.

            "Where the _hell…"_

"It's another reality! Just like the fake Angel Isle."

            "But _what…"_

"It's no use speculating. This requires hands-on observation!" said Tails, starting up the path. Five minutes of intense running brought them to the peak. 

            "There's the Emerald!" Sonic yelled above the noise of wind.

            The mountain's apex was actually a sharp cliff. Standing on its edge, the sky blue Emerald was a twenty-foot jump away from them, hovering in the midst of a strong gale.

"Have you noticed?" yelled Tails above the rushing air currents, "The wind is blowing _downward!"_

"That means we can't get the Emerald without being blown straight back down and _splat!"_ Sonic summarized, "So how do we get it?"

In response, Knuckles appeared beside them.

"Hello."

"Red!" they chorused.

"Giving birth to a Chaos Emerald requires conviction in that Emerald's abilities. If you don't believe that you can control this air current, it will send you to your doom."

Knuckled winked out of existence.

"Great!" Sonic muttered, "As if I'm not confused enough! What are we supposed to… TAILS!"

The small orange kitsune was leaping, paws outstretched. He grabbed the Emerald. Sonic watched in transfixed horror.

Tails was falling, falling, whisked downward by the very force he now cradled in his arms.

Tails spoke one word.

_"UP!"_

And Nature obeyed. 

"Whoa!" yelled Sonic as Tails shot by in a blur of orange, white and blue. High above, Tails spoke once more.

_"STOP!"_

And the winds were calm. Tails, twin tails twirling, floated downward and alighted beside his friend on the perilous edge of the mountain.

"How?"

"Simple, Sonic. You gotta believe the Chaos Emerald has control over its element. And, you have to say it like you mean it, I mean, yell at it, sort of."

Just as he said that, Angel Isle reappeared. The ball of blue light from the robot's remains was gone, but Tails now held a Chaos Emerald, as large as he, in his paws. Without much ado, Tails motioned for the Emerald to stay up. It left him and hovered in midair above his head.

"One down, six to go," Tails shrugged.

***

And so it went. Collecting fifty golden rings led to the Emerald of water. Swimming against a river's current (after hastily learning how to swim), Sonic snatched the deep blue jewel and immediately fell down a waterfall. Screaming, he told the water to stop, and wonder of wonders, the water halted its downward path onto some jagged rocks.

Returning to Angel Isle they collected an Invincibility monitor and were transported to a desert plain where a sandstorm was in progress. Following the light of the yellow Chaos Emerald, Sonic eventually touched it and reversed an earthquake before it swallowed them whole.

On the Isle they ran through a loop and found themselves running from a stream of burning, blazing magma, down the side of a steep black mountain. Tails grabbed Sonic and flew him to a lone rock, slowly being dissolved by the magma. The Emerald of flame was there. Holding it, Sonic ordered the lava flow several times to stop. The lava continued bubbling upward, not listening. Tails went on tiptoe beside Sonic.

"I don't think we're gonna make it."

Sonic eyed the creeping doom of fire, saying, "Be cool, bro," and it was the fire that died.

***

Swinging above the waterfall of Angel Isle on the conveniently placed vines, Tails counted the Emeralds (that were flying with them).

"What are the other elements, Sonic?"

"Huh? Oh, that's right, we only have four."

And Knuckles was gliding beside them.

"Life, Light and Dark remain. Green, white and purple…"

Then he was gone.

"I wish he'd help us out with getting the damn jewels, instead of taking a break every two seconds," grumbled Sonic. They leaped off the vines and crushed a menacing mechanical mongrel that lay waiting. _Two_ spheres of light greeted them, white and green. Circling each other, the balls of light radiated energy and the world, as they knew it, vanished from sight.

It seemed they had returned to the beginning of Angel Isle. The ocean was before them, fading away into the horizon. But there was no evil darkness infecting the clear blue sky above. It was another test.

"This can't mean going through the Isle again. There's an island, you can just see it," Sonic said, pointing to the almost invisible dot near the horizon.

"I can't fly us that far. Oh, duh… the water Emerald."

Sonic frowned at the ocean before him, grasping the deep blue Emerald.

"PART!"

Nothing happened.

"PART, DAMN YOU!"

Zilch. Tails held up a paw.

"Wait. Use my Emerald."

            The blue Emeralds in either paw, Sonic thundered his command once more. Air stirred, concentrating its currents upon the waters. A tunnel of air formed, cutting a straight line through the waters, which did indeed part, resulting in a dry path with walls of water on either side.

            "Y'know, I can't help feeling this has been done before," remarked Sonic as they ran toward the islet, far out to sea. Tails stared around in awed fear at the divided ocean, shadows of fishes moving within the tremendous walls of water that could crash down at any moment. 

            The next moment Tails was worried about the huge pillar of fire that had swooped down from the sky, blocking their pathway.

            "How…" Tails began, and was cut off as Sonic raised the Emerald of flame and commanded, _"Cool it!"_ to no avail.

            "It's too strong!"

            Sonic scratched his head in thought, silhouetted by the column of flames while Tails stood nervously by. The water Emerald came up this time. Instead of speaking, Sonic held out both arms to the water walls on either side. He clapped his paws together, and the water followed suit, smashing a portion of the walls into the blazing fire. The flames were subdued, but only for a moment, as more flame fell from the sky, strengthening the barrier. Tails looked up, was inspired, and poked Sonic on the shoulder.

            "Ever heard of a waterspout? They form at sea when…"

            "Say no more!"

            The Emeralds of water and wind at his command, Sonic brought forth a howling gale. It formed itself into a ravaging tornado, joining itself to the pillar of fire, making it burn even brighter. As the grand Conductor of the elements, Sonic raised both arms, motioning for water to combine with wind. Waves splashed into the blazing tornado, and were drawn upward to the sky, at once extinguishing the fire but also creating a new obstacle of furiously spinning water.

            "Sonic! It's getting too big!" shouted Tails as the roaring waterspout spat jets of mist around them, drenching their furs. Sonic brought his arms down in one swift motion, casting a stern glare at the thunderous funnel. It surrendered to his will, returning to the sky and sloshing into the cliffs of ocean that still stood on either side.

            "You're a god."

            Tails was wrenching the sogginess out of his tails. Sonic crouched and spun as if he were about to zoom off into a spin dash, but he stayed in place until all the dampness had been spun out of his fur. Tails started wringing his newly wet fur again.

            "I'm just a medium for the Emeralds, and Destiny, to work through," Sonic said matter-of-factly, "But if you feel the need to bow down and worship, feel free."

            "Oh, yes, my lord and god," Tails snickered.

            The islet possessed a solitary palm tree; among its leaves were the white Emerald and green Emerald. Mere yards away from their goal, Knuckles spoke from behind them.

            "The Emeralds of Light and Life co-exist. Without light there is no life. Without life, there is no purpose for light. Thus, the Light Emerald controls the flow of time, guiding the course of Life. But be forewarned: Time can be hastened or held back, but never halted. Such power belongs to the gods alone."

            "Hi, Red. Want to help us with these?" Sonic asked after the little speech, and stuck a thumb at the palm tree, "You're a better climber than I am."

            Knuckles shook his head, a wry smile playing on his lips.

            "I'm just a messenger."

            Setting foot upon the islet, Tails waited while Sonic scaled the lone palm tree. Standing on the leaves, he held the Server Emeralds of Light and Life in his paws. Their strong glows cast half his face in white light and the other in green.

            "Got 'em."

            A tremor went through Sonic as the four other Emeralds zoomed past his head, trailing their colours, and returned to Angel Isle shore.

"They're just leaving?" he sputtered. Tails had a worried look on his face.

"Without the water and wind Emeralds, that means…"

With a shuddering roar, the ocean broke free and was about to become whole again.

"Sonic!" Tails cried, not knowing what to do. But Sonic did. The Light Emerald held aloft, he ordered, "SLOW!"

What had been two mountains of water about to slam into each other was reduced to a trickle of motion. Hopping off the tree, Sonic saw the window of opportunity was barely six feet wide.

"Come on buddy!"

Sonic shot into the closing curtains of the ocean and was a hundred feet ahead when he turned around and saw Tails had just begun to enter the closing ocean.

"Damn! Everything slows down except me!"

Speeding back and grabbing Tails' arm, Sonic turned for Angel Isle and mustered every ounce of speed he could, shattering the sound barrier twice. Water was skimming his shoulders when he rocketed onto Angel Isle's shore, and the ocean closed with a clap of thunder, throwing up sheets of water that billowed into soft rainbows as the sun caught them.

Then they were back on the 'real' Angel Isle, the waterfall flowing behind them. Tails blinked and shook his head several times, staring at Sonic with renewed awe.

            "Wow! How did you _do_ that? When you grabbed me, I've never, _ever_ moved that fast…"

            "You were stuck in time, Tails, 'cuz I used this."

Sonic held up the white Emerald (the five others were now orbiting above). Tails tilted his head.

"Now I don't know if you were speeded up or everything was slowed down. I didn't _feel_ slower…"

"Who cares, we got through. Hey Red," called Sonic, and the echidna materialized before them.

"Yes?"

"The last Emerald is…?"

"I told you, it's darkness. Now get going."

"Darkness?" repeated Tails as Knuckles did his vanishing act, "But aren't we supposed to be _fighting _darkness?"

"By Destiny, I'll never understand this, I'll just be running my way through," sighed Sonic and picked up the pace, heading off deeper into Angel Isle. Tails shrugged and followed.

***

Knocking over a weird-looking pole with a star on top of it, Sonic and Tails bounced out of a dark corridor. They ran onward and stopped short. The world seemed to have ended in a thick gray film that resisted their efforts to go through. Plant life, sunlight…even the ground and sky ended at the steady grayness.

"But we haven't gotten the last Emerald!" complained Tails. Sonic was rubbing his chin, which of late had begun to sprout some green stubble to match his wild emerald hair.

"I wonder…"

Turning, he went back into the dark corridor and fell down to a lower level, where a broken rock wall greeted him. Without bothering to waste his energy breaking through, Sonic pointed the yellow Earth Emerald and shouted, "OPEN!"

Grinding rocks turned inward to form a small archway through which walked Sonic, Tails and six Super Emeralds.

"Follow me if you dare!" cried Sonic, and leaped onto a hidden spring. He was instantly sprung upward and through the hoop of a huge golden ring. Tails took a deep breath and bounced after Sonic through the golden ring, which quickly winked out of existence.

***

"Something is wrong."

Tails agreed. The crater before them was thick with a creeping fog of darkness. The very air choked their throats and stung their eyes. Overhead a scorched sky roiled with black smoky clouds, the rumour of lightning sounded through the dark heavens.

"Every place before this was natural in Nature. A volcano, a river, even a sandstorm, but not this," coughed Tails.

"The only way is down," sighed Sonic, and picked his way downward among the broken, scarred terrain. Seeing Sonic's head disappear in the polluted fog awoke a nameless fear in Tails' heart and he hastened to follow.

"I don't like this, at all," murmured Tails, who found Sonic's paw and did not let go of it. Even the combined glow of six Emeralds following above shed very little light. The tortured ground was dim and blurry beneath their feet. Without warning Sonic's wandering feet broke off some jutting rock and sent them tumbling in a landslide. When it was all over Sonic shook the poisoned dust from his fur, shivering, as it was very cold at the base of this crater. In the low visibility of the smoky fumes a violet glow caught his eye.

"Th… The last Emerald."

He stumbled toward it but bumped into something rock-solid and very, very black that had appeared out of nothing. Stepping backward Sonic called the Fire Emerald to shed some light on the situation. A smooth featureless body flickered into view, ten feet tall and seemingly hewed out of obsidian stone. Its four arms and two burning coals for eyes blocked the purple Emerald from view. It took a few seconds for Sonic to realize it had no legs and was quietly suspended in the sulfurous air. It spoke and the words echoed in his head, the tone flat and dead.

_"I am the messenger of Thanatos. He wishes to know your purpose in creating Chaos Emeralds."_

"Our purpose is to _stop_ him from taking over our planet, Mobius."

While Sonic was speaking, Tails was tiptoeing around the dark messenger.

"Tell your master he is not welcome on Mobius. We will resist, in fact, we will prevent him from having his way."

_"That is impossible. He has cloaked six worlds in the living darkness of his being. None shall escape. Not even the world created by Destiny and Fate, and guarded by Ancient Walkers, will hide from his dominion."_

Tails was behind the messenger now, and reaching for the Emerald of Darkness.

"It is the presence of our gods that will save us," Sonic persisted, "Your false god cannot…"

Without warning, one of the messenger's arms shot behind and at Tails. With a small cry he was impaled through the chest and pinned against the jagged wall.

"TAILS!"

A second arm swatted Sonic aside as it would an annoying fly. Sprawling into a painful blue ball in the dust, Sonic looked desperately toward his friend. The red fire of the Emerald outlined the stream of blood staining Tails' fur, dripping from the solid arm of the messenger that had penetrated through the small body and into the rock behind.

"Oh Goddess, NO!" Sonic screamed, and aimed a spin dash at the messenger. He was sideswiped by another arm and smacked against the same wall where Tails was dying. His feet treading air, the black arm began to press into him. He could hear his ribs cracking, one by one. Painfully he turned his head toward Tails. There was so much blood, but it was still flowing. 

_He isn't dead!_

And that thought inspired Sonic, as he felt death cutting into him.

"Light!" he gasped, and the white Emerald flew to him. He couldn't move his arms but he could still _think. _Bending his entire mind onto the energies of the white Emerald, he caused brilliant white light to shine onto the messenger's body. The black being shrieked agony and increased pressure on Sonic's already broken body. 

Remembering the plight of Tails, Sonic's heart was filled, and the pure light of the Emerald became an all-consuming blaze of power. The messenger turned toward Sonic.

_"I am not the end. He is coming…!"_

With those words it died and its body dissolved in the radiance of the white Emerald. Hedgehog and kitsune fell onto the harsh ground. Sonic gathered what strength remained. Everything inside of him felt broken. To breathe was agony. Slowly he dragged his painful self over to the bloodbath that was his friend.

"Oh Goddess, tell me what to do, just tell me please…"

In response to his prayer, green light settled above Tails.

"Life… Emerald?"

Though he knew not from where, understanding came to Sonic. He touched the Emerald of Life with a paw, and Tails' blood soaked chest with the other. Sonic would give Tails _his_ suffering, and he would live, and Sally and Paula would be waiting for him, and it wouldn't hurt anymore and he would be happy.

The last thread of life was about to be cut.

***

Colours blurred before his eyes and Tails took a deep breath. He sat up, clutching his chest where no wound was to be found.

"Welcome home, Tails."

Sunset in Marble Gardens sent long shadows among the ruins. Night flowers opened their petals and a crisp breeze wafted their scent to Knuckles and Tails. Glowing softly, seven newborn Server Emeralds lay on the grass around them.

"We got the last Emerald somehow, but… Sonic…"

Tails scanned the vista of rolling hills and marble ruins that were utterly devoid of the blue hedgehog.

"Where's Sonic?"

"He died," came the soft answer. Tails stared at Knuckles. The echidna, arms folded, was calmly watching the ball of fire sink beneath the horizon.

"What? Don't say that!"

"It is the truth. Using the Life Emerald, he took all of your suffering into his body. He sacrificed his life to save your life. No greater love exists."

It was impossible for Tails to hold back tears.

"Why. WHY? This… _test_ was of our friendship. _How can our friendship be tested if one of us dies?"_

"It is the greatest, and most terrible test of all," Knuckles whispered, facing Tails with dark grief clouding his eyes, "No other way would have satisfied Destiny."

"You speak of the Goddess," Tails said bitterly, "She was the one who said our friendship is a weapon against Thanatos! Where is that weapon now? Half of it is dead, it's one without the other, and it's _useless!"_

Tails hid his face and sobbed. In the midst of his grief, Knuckles spoke again.

"Did you know, Tails, that your friendship with Sonic, because it was faced with the highest challenge, is not dead. It lives. It stands to reason, therefore, that Sonic is _not_ dead."

Tails looked up from his tearstained paws.

"But you just said he _was_ dead!"

Knuckles lifted his eyes and looked behind Tails' shoulder. He smiled.

Tails turned around and Sonic embraced him, warm and very much alive.

"Bro! You aren't hurt! Thank Destiny," the hedgehog cried, and tears once more touched the wide and wondering eyes of Tails.

"S… Sonic," he murmured, and returned the hug with pure joy.

Knuckles looked away from the reunion and to the sky. Clouds above the setting sun were set aflame in orange and gold.

_"Including myself, three have proven worthy of the Seven. There is so little time. Walkers, guide me…"_

"Hey, Red?"

"Yes, Blue."

"Can you show me the western temple?"

Knuckles frowned, looking toward the once-great temple of Marble Gardens.

"I thought you would return to Knothole at once. Sally must be worried."

Sonic grinned.

"She's the reason I want to go there. There's this problem of a gift..."

            The two shorn pieces of Fire found each other. They were of a common flame, but they could not return to The Great Fire and be complete. They found solace in each other, and joined energies to form a single, fiery fragment. Time became meaningless. Space was endless. They fly through the void between Stars, aware of their own existence. The great mystery is that their Light and Fire never grow dim.


	5. Kootan

Chapter Five - Kootan

In the Xadran Book of Legend it was written,

"Three islands form a tiny circle in the ocean between the Great Forest and the shores of Neos. They are not found on any map, for they only appear to those in need of their secret. It is in the waters these islands enclose where magic is found that can either remove life or reverse death."

Magic with the power to kill or resurrect! Lazer had those words in mind the dreadful day he left the smoldering remains of Xadra behind. As the Book said, the islands revealed themselves. He had talked with someone, nameless, who hid himself among the trees. Reaching out to the stranger, his psychic sense came up against a force of ancient power, unreadable. It was the second conversation he had had since his father's death…

But that was six years in the past. Perhaps the faceless person had moved onward?

While the sun went to sleep, and the moon awoke in the eastern sky, Lazer sped over the darkening waters. If he saw the blackened shores of Neos before the three islands, he would turn back. Seeing his homeland again would cause him to linger, and Rebecca was waiting.

            By the light of the moon he saw bright blue water reflected far below, out of place in the midst of the dark sea. He swooped downward, his quills streaming out like wings.

***

            Walking on a beach at night is a strange experience. It was to Lazer. Moonlight cast the sand in stark white contrast with the endless darkness of the ocean and sky. To his right slept the still, silent island, its secrets untouched and its flora wild. Breeze was constant, threshing the sharp salty air through his quills. Waves foamed onto the beach, carrying the timeless sound of the sea to his ears. The soft crunch of his boots on a shore dusted with seashells was his only companion.

            Solitude. But not quite… there was magic here, and it was not just a force of nature, it was _alive._

You can think some strange thoughts while walking a beach at night. Who am I? What is the purpose of meaning? Lazer entertained no such nonsense, his mind was busy seeking the being, certain it was the stranger he encountered before. Mister Stranger's mind flitted about with weird randomness, sometimes completely disappearing from one spot and reappearing instantly in another. Lazer stood very still, closed his eyes and sent a thought.

_"Hello."_

A thought was returned from a mind as strong as it was ancient. Mister Stranger kept still.

_"Hello. What is your purpose here?"_

_"I wish for death."_

Lazer sensed Mister Stranger smile.

_"You carry a sword. It can drink your blood."_

This time Lazer smiled.

_"Let me specify. I wish to be mortal."_

_"Ah, you wish, do you? Your wish is in vain. Chaos Emeralds have made your life a deathless life. Is this not the ultimate dream of all who live?"_

Lazer's smile faded.

_"Not mine."_

Mister Stranger paused. 

_"What do you ask of me?"_

_"Let me use the waters of this island to remove what the Emeralds have cursed me with."_

_"A curse, you say? None understand your plight better than I. But what is your _reason_ for this, Lazer?"_

Mister Stranger knew his name. Unsurprising.

_"I shall not say."_

Again, Mister Stranger paused. Lazer picked up emotions of curiosity, not something you would expect from a mind that old.

_"Lazer, I am Kootan, guardian of these waters. There is but one way to access their magic."_

_"So be it."_

Reaching behind, Lazer drew out the blue-white metal of his katana.

And Kootan came.

Pale Luna's light revealed a bronze salamander, his limbs wrinkled with age, yet his stride was swift and confident. No frailty was in the lithe muscles of his wiry frame. A short, fluttering black cape, tied at the neck, and a simple loincloth were his garb. Blue eyes that had witnessed the passing of ages directed their gaze at the younger, unwavering eyes of Lazer.

"You are no ordinary hedgehog," nodded Kootan, his hands folded out of sight behind his back.

"You are no ordinary salamander," rejoined Lazer, holding his sword at the ready.

            They went at it. Lazer quickly recovered from his initial shock - the old salamander easily matched his speed and strength with the first clash of katana against kodachi, the short sword of a ninja. Questions would come later; the time of action was now.

            Circling each other under pallid moonlight, they sized each other up. Body language, the quickness of breath – nothing could be missed, for they betrayed a readiness to attack or defend. Knowledge of an opponent's weapon was of paramount importance – remembering his sensei's teaching Lazer knew the kodachi to be capable of less damage, but faster than the longer katana.

            Lazer started running. He was indirect, crossing Kootan back and forth, testing reflexes that proved to be perfect as a low kick then a slash to the midsection were blocked. Sword and body were equal in strength.

            _"Very fast, but he can't attack very well with that short sword, doesn't have enough reach, so he can only block… unless…"_

So quickly did Kootan throw that Lazer held up his paw and relied on the Chaos Emeralds to save him. They did: no less than fifteen shurikens hit the sand at the same time.

            "One hand! Astonishing."

            Lazer blinked. And as he did, he felt the air move behind him and twisted out of the way in time to avoid a deadly stab to his lungs. Reacting with a forward thrust, Lazer ducked under a second stab and almost hit Kootan square in the chest.

            But Kootan was not there.

            "What are you attacking?"

            Impossible. Kootan was now the same place he had been a second ago! Lazer spun around.

            "How? Not even Chaos Control is that fast!"

            "Patience."

            Kootan's other hand flashed out. Lazer saw a swarm of shurikens take flight but was now fully alert. With one hand gripping his sword, he swatted aside _twenty_ shurikens in blindingly fast motions.

            "Showing off, are we?" murmured Kootan, tucking a hand under his cape. Lazer pointed his sword double-handed toward Kootan in a defense stance.

            _Fwish!_

A kunai with chain! It wrapped itself tightly around the blade and held firm. Kootan yanked the chain and Lazer was drawn irresistibly forward. Digging his heels into the soft sand was useless. It was like tug-of-war with a mountain. Kootan snapped the chain to him and Lazer was flicked upward, the kunai releasing its vice grip. Kootan met the hedgehog in midair amidst a shower of shurikens. Mini stars bounced off an invisible barrier and his short sword was bitten by the katana. 

They landed and began circling again.

            "Truly extraordinary," noted Kootan. He saw Lazer's blade dart toward him in a dazzling succession of strokes. His faster kodachi staved off the flurry attack in a blur of flashing steel.

            At a stalemate, they did what any other decent warriors would do, and talked, warily circling on the sand where nearly a hundred spent shurikens lay.

            "You fought my sensei, didn't you? He told me of a bronze ninja he wounded three times, on the right shoulder, below the left knee, and across the chest. You bear similar scars."

            A wrinkled eyebrow rose.

            "Was he a red hedgehog like you, slightly taller, and wore green clothing?"

            "Yes, clothing marked with the symbol of Wanrikken,"

            Lazer lifted his sword sheath where three triangles were painted side-by-side, a white triangle flanked by two black ones.

            "Arikam Saotome," said Kootan wistfully, "A foolish lad when I met him, though he was older than you at the time. Thought he could save his honour in a sword fight."

            Lazer stopped circling and lowered his sword. Kootan did the same.

            "Go on."

            "I beat him in a footrace," Kootan said, "When Adrax City still existed. I remember all his friends laughing at him, an energetic young fellow bested by a relic like me."

            "He challenged you?"

            "As I said. A true master he was, you know the scars he gave me."

            "Then he defeated you?"

            Kootan narrowed his eyes.

            "I knocked the sword from his paw and kicked him in the head. He woke up two weeks later."

            Lazer flung back his head and laughed. So _that's_ why Arikam never said who won. Containing his mirth, while Kootan stood by unsmiling, Lazer held his sword up once more.

            "You know our fighting style?"

            "Indeed. Did it go something like this?"

            Kootan became many. Lazer was impressed; the images of Kootan that now stood around him were pure chi energy.

            "Very good, ninja, but there's a slight flaw to your style."

            "Oh?" came the collective response of Kootan's clones, crouching for the kill with kodachi in hand.

            "Yes."

            Lazer became many.

            "There is only one master."

            _Whack._

Never, in the annals of his personal history, could Kootan remember such sheer amazement, delivered by a single blow to the back of his skull. Disoriented, he clutched sand and broken shells in his claws. 

Lazer re-sheathed his sword.

_"No, sensei, no need to thank me…"_

***

            "Welcome back to the world of the living."

            "Bah! It is too soon."

            Sand slid off Kootan's body as he stood, unharmed.

            "You fought without the intention of killing," he observed, causing Lazer to shrug.

            "The waters might not work their magic without you."

            "Hah! So my life's worth is measured by my worth to you?"

            "I would say the same of my life."

            Kootan held out his hand and the shurikens that were scattered on the sand jumped up and flew into a neat stack. He tucked them away, without any fuss, under his cape.

            "Ah yes, your purpose of being here is to lose your life. Since I now have a sizeable lump on my head your wish shall be granted. Come."

            They went to the heart of the islands. Lazer saw that the islands were not connected, allowing the ocean free reign among them. At the islands' center, however, a pool of brilliant sapphire lay, defying the deep blue ocean waters surrounding it.

            "Go ahead," Kootan said, and sat down on a smooth rock, twiddling his toes in the sea.

            "What?"

            "Submerge yourself, boy," he said, impatiently waving his hand toward the pool.

            Leaving his shoes, gloves and sword in Kootan's care Lazer strode into the ocean, wading his way toward the center. Cold oceanic current gave way to placid warmth in the zone of supernatural water. He held a breath and went under.

            Kootan drew out Lazer's sword and inspected it. A katana is made of strong steel on the outer edges, honed to reflect like a mirror on the cutting edge. At the heart of the sword softer steel is used to absorb shock without warping the blade. The best and strongest of katanas are made of two metals joined together, a painstaking process that requires well over six months to accomplish. While mulling over these details Kootan saw a huge flaw in this katana, which he could not notice in the heat of battle: this katana had been repaired. A katana that is broken is _never_ repaired, for the sword must be of uniform strength or else it becomes unbalanced and, worst of all, easily breakable. Yet his strongest blows were resisted by _this_ repaired katana. Curious.

            Ah, the hedgehog was rising from, literally, his watery grave, for the immortal Lazer had died. The dripping red hedgehog that sloshed landward might live years longer than average, but would surely die, as all creatures do, someday. Kootan replaced the flawed sword and stood.

            "Congratulations," he hailed, "You belong to the world of the dead."

            "Thank you."

            Putting aside the gallows humour Kootan asked the question that had nagged him from the start.

            "Why?"

            Eyeing him, Lazer suffused red heat and was dry.

            "My lover is mortal. I do not wish to outlive her, or my child."

"Child? Your species reproduces in litters."

            "Who am I to question Nature? The same gods that placed five Chaos Emeralds within me placed a single child within Rebecca."

            "How unnatural," murmured Kootan, "That hedgehogs produce a single heir?"

            Lazer blinked.

            "We're planning for more."

            Kootan cackled and looked for all the world like an old geezer. Slapping Lazer on the shoulder he said,

            "Good, good. Plan for the future, then, as I plan my own. I have been here ten years and grow weary of the tropical sunshine and calm breezes. Fighting you has revived me, losing to you made me aware of how fragile even my life is. I shall go back with you!"

            Lazer blinked again.

            "I can't carry you! But…"

            "Hah! I shall show you _true_ magic!"

            Stepping back several paces Kootan turned to the East and lifted his left hand high.

            "Trestrail Hollows! I AM!"

            Lazer's eyes popped wide open. Without any flourish, or lightshow, Kootan was now the size of an ant. Then he vanished and Lazer heard a voice in his head.

            _"I'm sitting on one of your needles. Shall we go?"_

_            "I was going to use Chaos Control, until you did _that._"_

_            "Mere teleportation? Boring! You will fly."_

_            "But my wife…"_

_            "Fly, boy!"_

Muttering that Kootan was the ghost of sensei Arikam, Lazer forsook the earth and soared through the night, gliding with the westward wind.


	6. Acceptance

Chapter Six – Acceptance

            The first night came after the arrival of Thanatos, and yet, the sun rose the next morning. November 21st found one feline walking the shoreline of Dark Jewel Isle, indistinguishable from the colour of the ground beneath her feet save for her white clothing.

Hannah was misery. Thanatos' ability for destruction was perfect – she could not find one skeleton, one broken stone to remember her home. She could see the entire island from shore to distant shore. The hills were now a desolate plain, flattened by the overwhelming hand of the god. How terrible, she thought, that he could erase history in a glancing blow! There was very little, if any, knowledge on Mobius about Dark Jewel Isle. Only the wanderer, or the shipwrecked sailor, had ever found the place, and even then they were persuaded to stay rather than venture again into the open world.

            "The temple, the town… just gone," she whispered. There wasn't even any dust to speak of. Sitting on her heels, she touched the ground where a beach had been. All the sand was vitrified. It was now solid, scorched black, yet very cold. Behind her the sea rolled onward, unconcerned that one of its islands had recently died.

            There was only one place to go, she thought.

            Hard glass shifted to hard rock as Hannah walked the long, lonely and unmarked path to the middle of the island. Nothing could be seen on the blot that remained of Dark Jewel Isle. It was flat, featureless and dead, but Hannah had somewhere to go. She had to see the place from which Thanatos had released his servant.

            She placed her paws in the gouges left by gigantic, curved talons. Ten minutes of walking led her to the other set of footprints. She shuddered, imagining its size, and what its freedom might do to Mobius. But where did it go? Did Thanatos lift it to the dark heavens and join its evil power to his own? Years spent with the Black Chaos Emerald, the former prison of the Thing, acquainted her with the immensity of its power. It even took control of her mind at one point, so that it might kill her, for she had displeased it. Hannah shivered; remembering her darkest fear but also the moment Lazer released her…

            "Never, _never_ will I return to evil," she declared, hearing the words echo in her heart and finding no regret in the decision at all. Power, lust, wealth… all rendered meaningless when faced with Death. With those words, she put her past behind her forever.

            She turned eastward. Far away on the main continent was the Great Forest, and Freedom City. People there had found other reasons for living. She would return to them, and find her meaning.

***

            Emess hoped the way he was walking wouldn't betray the butterflies in his stomach. All following him, thirty strong, could sense fear and doubt in the simplest of bodily actions. He had chosen only those who wanted to see this city of Freedom, the majority being fearless carnivores, the minority being curious herbivores.

            _"I shouldn't classify them into their eating habits," _Emess mused silently, _"I've heard of this Sonic character eating meat…"_

Without Jubel padding along at his side he would have given up the trek before it started. She looked up at him and caught his eye.

            "I'm so nervous. I know I won't like it there."

            Jubel went about on all fours when she was in this state.

            "You'll have to walk like me before we reach there. You're wearing clothes just like everyone else."

            Jubel looked over her shoulder at the following of thirty. So accustomed were they to forest life that walking on two legs was inconvenient. Yet, some wore jeans, others khaki, jerseys and even ties. They only did this in accordance with Emess' wishes. All in all they looked rather silly romping toward the city wearing Overlander clothing.

            "I don't think the others feel _up_ to it, either," she giggled. Emess sighed and stopped. Everyone else did. Some sat on their haunches to hear better.

            "Yes, I'm worried. I'm also wearing tight clothes, which doesn't help either. I'm the first Overlander any of the people in that city would have seen since Robotnik. We'll sort that out when we reach there. But remember, no one in the city walks goes on all fours, at least, not in public," he said, sending a wave of laughter through them, "So act like _civilized_ people for a change. I think I've showed you how it's done?" 

He smiled, and they smiled with him. As one body they stood on two legs, brushing dirt off their unnatural clothing and straightening the tie here and there. Then they resumed their journey, to the city of modern wonders.

***

            Sonic awoke beside Sally, propped his elbow on a pillow and watched her sleeping. He had risked their marriage the day before. He had risked a broken future for their children. All that drama to save Tails, who was now snoring safely in his hut! Was it worth it? He was acting in the moment, knowing Sally and their offspring to be safe in Knothole, knowing Tails to be dying before his eyes. Some part of him also knew, in that pivotal moment, what would happen if he did not save Tails. No one would be safe! All would perish by the hand of Thanatos, his inner voice told him. So he had acted. His actions were rewarded by the birth of Server Emeralds for the Master. All eight Emeralds were now in the care of Knuckles until the 'fated time'.

With the knowledge that his actions had given hope to Mobius, Sonic donned his delivery boy's hat and sped off to Freedom City. He smiled while thinking of what she would say when he took her to Marble Gardens.

Pausing at his pizzeria for breakfast, Sonic noticed that the Great Divide of Floating Isle was news. Reports of the carnage were blaring from the TV sets here and across the city. The new Public Broadcast System had its first major story: either a natural disaster or terrorist action. He let the news be news and went to work.

            Sonic noticed many things about the city, and its people. How the road felt under his shoes spoke to him of hasty paving, and the early rehashing that would follow. When it rained, the amount of water in the streets told him if the sewer system was on the bunk.  One glance at a couple told him if they were going to marry or break up. Even the way some people walked told volumes about their lifestyle. He was a city boy at heart; he could feel its life, its ever-changing soul as more buildings and different people moved in.

            He also knew when an outsider, unwelcome, was bound to cause trouble.

            _Overlander._

He hadn't heard the word used in years. And yet there was one, leading a pack of not very well-dressed creatures of all species and sizes into the developing city limits, drawing stares, sparking whispered conversation and attracting hecklers. And what else was that Overlander doing? Good heavens, he was holding the paw of a female cougar! Such delicious scandal! Housewives would gossip for years. 

Construction crews halted their work to follow the motley crew, which seemed intent on City Hall. Sonic trailed them, wondering why a _human_ dared to enter this decidedly anti-human city with his flock (though his female companion along with elephants, bears, lions, foxes, mice and even one average hedgehog could hardly be classified). 

            "Curiouser and curiouser!"

Sonic remembered the quote and thought it appropriate. Delivering the remainder of pizzas was a simple task. Understanding the present situation was not. 

At City Hall, Sonic leaped onto the high white wall overlooking the wide, grassy courtyard. The mayor came out of the great double doors to meet the foreigners (even from that distance Sonic saw the utter surprise on the faces of the mayor and his aides upon seeing an Overlander). He spoke briefly with their human leader. That accomplished, the mayor turned to his aides and consulted for a few hectic, wildly gesturing moments. Taking command, the mayor directed the furry newcomers to stand beneath the archway before the open doors of the Hall. The female cougar, a picture of worry, did not take her eyes off the furless one as he was led to the tall podium in the courtyard. Sonic watched the following, murmuring crowd that now glutted the Hall's courtyard, trying to get nearer to the outsider. He saw the mayor take the microphone and, with a wary glance at the Overlander towering beside him, spoke to the staring crowd.

"Good morning, citizens of Freedom City. This Over… person, whose name is Emess, wishes to take residence in our beloved City."

Protest! Inarticulate shouting and a general wagging of heads that declared _no!_

"Silence!" the mayor thundered, abating the worst of the shouting, "I will not have an unruly mob in this courtyard. Come forward and speak if you have an opinion!"

Minutes of shouting, sneers and growling resulted in a knot of citizens striding up the stairs of the raised platform. Pushing and shoving for the microphone ended when the mayor and his aides herded all of them off except one brave wolf, a respected businessman (and friend of the mayor) known as Becker.

"Fellow citizens!" he barked, "Would we allow an Overlander in our midst when one so recently ruined us all? _Never!"_

Becker gnashed his teeth at Emess who jumped in alarm. The crowd roared approval as Becker was moved back into the crowd, grinning with self-satisfaction. Shaking his head wearily, their mayor took over the microphone.

"Citizens, be rational. Look at his following!"

A thousand eyes glared at the fidgeting thirty. 

"If a person is judged by the company he keeps, surely, Emess will be a model citizen of our metropolis!"

"King Acorn was the friend of Robotnik and he was _betrayed!"_ someone cried, "Never trust an Overlander!"

_Hopeless, _Sonic saw the mayor mouth as the crowd took up the cry, "Never trust an Overlander!"

Emess closed his eyes, as though in prayer.

And darkness came.

No one took heed at first; it could have been a cloud passing over the sun. But when night fell twelve hours too early, people noticed. There were no stars.

Sonic groaned.

"Thanatos!"

What he had overcome yesterday was but a messenger. Thanatos had just shown up in person, his presence as a pitch-black cloud over the city. Alone, Sonic could not fight this. He had to somehow get out… find Knuckles…

Thanatos spoke. His voice was not heard, but it was felt.

All within and without the courtyard fell to the ground as if dead. All but Emess and Sonic. They saw each other, through the thick fog of Thanatos, for they were the only persons around who glowed with inner light.

"Friend, what is this shadow?" called Emess.

"Another enemy of Mobius! His name is Thanatos!"

"Has he killed them?"

Emess encompassed the courtyard and his followers with his hands.

"I don't know," admitted Sonic. He had no power to sense life or death. Emess stepped off the stage and walked to the unmoving form of the she-cougar. Kneeling, he took her large paw in his big human hands.

"Alive," he confirmed. He stood up suddenly. Sonic understood why: people were getting up. But they did not look like the living. With vacant, angry expressions the citizens and Emess' followers looked around them and to the sky.

_"Thanatos,"_ they all murmured in unison. They lifted paws to the god, crying, _"Thanatos! Thanatos!" _in macabre worship.

"What is this?"

Sonic fell off the wall and moved among the entranced civilians, shaking their arms, waving his paws in their faces. No change – they were all held sway by the will of the god above them.

He heard a voice.

**"My army."**

"His… no!"

It was the second Act, Sonic thought. First, Thanatos had instilled fear into the city by destroying the greatest power known to Mobius: the Chaos Emeralds of Floating Isle. Minds, weakened by worry and anger at the presence of Emess, were easy prey for his dark designs. He had built a puppet army in two short days. It would demoralize the inhabitants of a world, Sonic realized, if they were forced to fight their own people.

"Mobius won't be yours, you low-down bastard," Sonic swore. Mobius had the Servers and their Master, even if the seventh being wasn't found yet there must be a way to stop this! He was running out of the courtyard when ten hands snatched him off the ground and held him firm. Becker, once the angriest, now the weakest, walked through the crowd and grabbed Sonic's hair, pulling the blue head up to face him. Indifferent wolfish eyes looked into the defiant eyes of Sonic.

"I have seen you before, through the eyes of my messenger that you killed. Why do you persist in a futile activity, Sonic Hedgehog? You have gained no power, no wealth, not even respect while fighting for this planet. The death of my lesser servant, Ivo Robotnik, at the hands of creatures such as you is curious to me. I promised him emperorship over this world, eternal youth, and enough power to triumph over other worlds! Why, then, did he die? Why did he allow himself to fail? Were _my_ promised rewards insufficient?"

"There are other reasons for living, Thanatos, but it seems you cannot comprehend anything outside of your so-called power!" came Sonic's hard-bitten retort. Becker/Thanatos' eyes narrowed.

"What is existence without power? Nothing. Compared to me, the energies of this planet are but a drop in the comprehensive ocean of my being. You are the one who cannot comprehend the purpose of life, Sonic Hedgehog."

Becker's eyes filmed over and Sonic felt an insistent pounding in his head. Thanatos was channeling his mind-control powers through the wolf! Struggling was useless, if only he had one of the Servers…!

***

Escaping the mass of slaves below, Emess climbed to the roof of City Hall and stood there, watching his friends hold Sonic captive. Poor Jubel, she had fallen to this 'Thanatos' without any resistance!

"Lord, what do I do? If I have ever needed instruction, it is now. Help me, please!"

His prayer went unanswered. It was a dark night for this City, how unfortunate that he had chosen this day to enter it!

"There are others coming nearer here. But they don't look like the zombies down there."

A century brigade of Freedom City's police force arrived on foot. Their cars and bikes had shut down the moment unnatural night fell. Moving among the crowd in a band of white and blue uniforms, they identified and tried to save Sonic from the paw of Becker.

The slaughter was brief and complete. Emess gaped in helpless horror. Mutilation was too weak a word to describe such an act. Claws and maws of the army were bloodstained; it was their first victory.

Thanatos laughed. It was a rending, raucous laugh that shook City Hall to its foundations. His laughter filled the city and an earthquake ensued, toppling taller buildings, starting fires in the complete darkness. Emess heard distant cries of fear and held his head in pain.

"It's not… sane… to do such a thing… Thanatos!"

Unafraid, Emess confronted the dark god. The army turned dripping red faces to the single man standing on the roof.

**"You defend those who hate you?"**

"Their lives are worth defending!"

**"Foolish one, I will demonstrate how grateful your people are!"**

Jubel and company began scrambling up the roof. Sickened, he watched them climb toward him. Never before had he seen such a murderous group, and how painful it was to watch Jubel, her paws covered in fresh blood, her eyes blank and hating.

Emess looked to the black sky and his right hand shot straight upward, as though to fend off the god himself. Somewhere from within him, he knew not how or why, there was strength immeasurable flowing through his mortal body. His eyes pierced the clouds, and held gaze with the one who would offend the children of Mobius!

_"THEY ARE **NOT YOURS! **LEAVE THEM. COME OUT! NOW AND FOREVER."_

His voice came forth, not as that of a frail human, but as one of absolute authority, thundering to high heaven, impossible to deny or question. Alarmed at the sheer, insurmountable force behind those words, Thanatos fled from Freedom City and the dread night flew from sight. 

Sunlight shone once more. Emess looked at its source, but his eyes were unharmed. At that moment, feeling strength almighty coursing through his veins, it was the most natural thing in the world to behold light of such brilliance. He smiled, and nodded. This battle was won.

***

            "Look at what _he_ has done!"

            Sonic's finger was pointing at what remained of a hundred policemen. Grass was steeped in blood. Bloody fur and entrails were attracting flies. Those who remained in the courtyard, including the mayor, Emess' group and a few hundred citizens, were retching the taste of blood and raw meat from their mouths. They would never look at meat the same way again. Other, living policemen (they felt very ill) were holding back half the city from entering the courtyard.      

"Thanatos made you kill them. And to top it off, the guy you were trying to get _rid_ of was the one who saved us all!"

            Sonic pointed to Emess, who was comforting a sobbing Jubel in the shade of City Hall's archway.

            "You all remember it, don't you? But you couldn't do anything. Thanatos is no terrorist; he is Evil himself! Band together, Freedom City! Accept Emess into your ranks! Help each other to _resist_ Thanatos! _He_ is our common enemy!"

            The mayor staggered onto the stage and leaned heavily against the podium. He covered the microphone with a bloody paw.

            "Thank you, Sonic. Leave the rest to the proper authorities."

            "Authorities? Hah! Don't you see what happened to them?"

            The mayor flicked a piece of fur, not his own, from his lips.

            "If you know of a way to stop this _thing,_ please do it. But the city will be carried through this time of crisis by the remaining police and myself."

            Sonic frowned and looked at the redness on the grass. An ambulance arrived and began carting away the dead. The mayor rested an unclean paw on Sonic's shoulder.

            "My boy, all is not lost."

            "Who said all was lost? There's hope, still!"

            He shrugged off the paw and went to Emess. Gentle hands were stroking the cheek fur of Jubel, calming her down amidst racking sobs. He was sitting, with her nose pressed into his chest, smearing red over the white shirt. Jubel had the large, supple feline body of her kind, her fur magenta in colour. Sonic looked well at the human saviour. Standing, he would have been over six feet tall. His large frame, though not bulking with muscle, denoted a man of considerable physical strength. A thick brown head and beard of straight hair fell to his waist, their growth unchecked (and uncombed) for many years. What was that hanging from his neck… a nail clipper? At the center of the hairy face was a rather large nose. Serene brown eyes looked up at Sonic.

            "I hope that doesn't happen everyday."

            "A comedian, eh? Welcome to Freedom City. I'm Sonic."

            Sonic's paw was engulfed in a strong grip.

            "I am Emess. Sounds like emissary, doesn't it?"

            "Makes sense. So why'd you come to the city?"

            "The forest is a hostile place."

            His eyes twinkled.

            "There are a hundred more in our village, waiting for news. And what news I have for them! A city under siege by an evil power!"

            "A god, yeah. Hey, I wonder, are you one of the Seven?"

            "Yes, yes he is."

            "Lazer! And… who're you?"

            Kootan raised both eyebrows.

            "How rude."

            Red hedgehog and aged salamander stood side by side behind Sonic. No sound had heralded their arrival. Jubel and Emess looked up at them.

            "Hello," Emess smiled, "Friends of Sonic?"

            "Friends!" echoed Sonic at the unflinching salamander, "Yes, they're friends. Isn't he, Lazer?"

            "Yes. Meet Kootan, one of the Seven."

            While blue hedgehog and bronze salamander warily shook paws, Lazer went on one knee and gripped Emess' hand. He glanced at Jubel.

            "Nightmares never last long."

            Jubel blinked and nodded, speechless. To Emess he said,

            "I was introducing Kootan to Knuckles, our guide, when I realized what was happening down here. It seems you've proven yourself. You are one of us, Emess."

            "What seven is this?"

            "Saviours, like you, of Mobius. Ask Knuckles for the details, you'll meet him soon. But the question now is… how did you do it? You held no Chaos Emerald, and yet, you drove the _god _away!"

            Sonic, Kootan and Jubel looked to Emess as Lazer asked this.

            "It was my God, working through me, a part of me, I think."

            "You mean Destiny, Fate, or the Ancient Walkers?" queried Kootan. Emess shook his head.

            "I serve a different deity, _very_ different from any of yours."

            Lazer nodded.

            "Whatever, whoever your god is, we appreciate his intervention."

            He looked at the air next to Sonic and said, "Hello, Hannah."

            She materialized, causing everyone else to jump.

            "Nifty trick, is it not? My Elders taught me."

            "Why do you hide?"

            "Because, _Lazer, _there are people in this city that may recognize me. I am something of a serial killer… but no more."

            "Glad to hear it," Sonic muttered. Hannah looked down at Emess and Jubel.

            "A strange creature you are, Overlander. Keeping company with our kind when one of you betrayed us all."

Emess sighed at that truth. He needed to explain.

"I was born and raised in an Overlander base, in the Great Forest. My parents hated the city life, and were suspicious of outsiders. When I was seventeen, two pumas were caught stealing food. One of them fought back and was killed. The other was held captive."

Emess was stroking between Jubel's ears.

"She was going to be executed, and yet she spoke our language, had our emotions, but my parents were indifferent. Like Robotnik, they saw her as an animal, _beneath _them, just another pest. I talked to her, sitting outside her cage at night. She started talking back after a few nights. She was so scared…"

The four others, and Jubel, were silent as Emess told his tale.

"An hour before her execution, I stole the keys and set her free. But my father caught me, and _I _was put on trial. I was banished from my village and the homes of all other forest-dwelling Overlanders. If I wanted to save animals, he said, I should live with them. Jubel found me, crying like a baby, and sort of adopted me. I built a hut of my own, while she slept in the forest. Years later, when Robotnik came into power, many furry friends sought refuge in the forest. Jubel and I found some of them, some of them found us. A village started. Today it's seventy huts and a hundred and thirty two of us. And then, as you know, I heard about this city…"

Jubel was sitting beside him now, resting her head on his shoulder. Sonic spoke first.

"You've lived in the forest longer than any of us! I was a kid in the old Mobotropolis when Buttnik took over. How old _are_ you?"

"Forty three. Jubel has seen three more summers."

Eyebrows rose, Hannah's rose the highest.

"You've go to be joking! She doesn't look a day older than _me!"_

Jubel's ears perked up at this and she looked askance at the dark feline girl.

"I thought you were older than me," she confessed, her voice low and maternal.

"What!" Hannah shrieked, "I'm decades younger than you! Honestly!"

The men laughed while Hannah's face contorted in stupefaction. Jubel's smile was kind and guileless.

"First beauty tip, never get too angry, and laugh often."

Hannah composed herself at once, blinking and clearing her throat. Kootan was nodding to himself.

"Your parents were wrong. How ironic that your high morality was punished!"

"Oh, I'm not a very good example of morals. I've been stealing from my people for over twenty years! One thing I am thankful to my father for, though, is that he let me keep a book of songs and a book of history. That is how I came to know God. I'm trying to follow His example, haven't gotten around to not stealing, though. Reading about Him, you'd be amazed at the things He did for our sake." 

"Created the heavens, and us, I suppose, just as we believe Destiny and Fate created us? Promised us heaven if we were good? If that's all, then I'm sorry, but your god's a dime a dozen," said Sonic. Instead of frowning, the face of Emess lit up, and he broke into song.

_"He left His Father's throne above,_

_So free, so infinite His grace! _

_Emptied Himself of all but love, _

_And bled for Adam's helpless race!"_

"That's one of his favourites," said Jubel, "He's sung it so many times the whole village knows it."

"Adam?" wondered Kootan.

"Don't belittle my singing, woman," Emess nudged her, grinning ear to ear.

"Well, that was interesting," Hannah broke in, "You are unkempt and hairy. Come with me, I shall introduce you to a hair salon."

            Emess smiled but shook his head. With Thanatos gone, sirens were sounding everywhere in the city. Buildings were on fire while they chatted.

            "There was an earthquake. People are dying in the city. Jubel, the others and I know first aid."

            "Then it will be your first civil service."

            An aide to the mayor, her ears twitching, was speaking. She was holding a clipboard and pen.

            "I will get your papers in order, as His Honour asked. All of you, come with me, there is a free clinic near here. Lazer?"

            "Yes, Sasha."

            "You will help, won't you? I mean your healing powers…"

            Lazer's face fell.

            "I don't have them anymore."

            "What?" Sonic blurted, very confused. Kootan hummed.

            "Your friend has made a difficult choice. Either he remained immortal, with restorative energies, or he became mortal, without the power to heal himself or others."

            Sonic shouted at Lazer in consternation.

            "Why the hell would you _do_ that? What happened, on that 'rendezvous with fate' you went to? Why didn't you _tell_ us? Don't you know how _many people_ need your…"

            Kootan interjected, blue eyes smoldering.

            "Sonic, do you wish to live for so long, that all your friends die, you bury your own children, and one day realize that all you held dear has vanished like the mist of morning?"

"No."

            "Then try to understand Lazer's decision."

            "Okay, okay."

            They looked away in hostile silence. Lazer lifted his head and drew a deep breath, his mind filling with a familiar gloom.

            "I have to defend this city. Thanatos is wrathful. His messenger approaches."

            "That thing?" Sonic sighed, "Won't last long. Teleport to Floating Isle and get the White Emerald for me."

            "No. Knuckles told me, what you fought was _his_ lesser angel. This… thing, remember when we fought Hannah? _This_ is his archangel."

            Without another word of explanation, Lazer took to the sky and was gone. Sonic looked at the dark mistress, whose eyes avoided his.

            "How powerful, exactly, is this thing?"

            "It is the Harbinger of Endless Despair, the one even the Ancient Walkers could not contain."

            "And he's going _alone?"_

            Kootan cut in.

"I am wondering why Knuckles has said so little to you. Does he not trust you?"

            Sonic scowled at him.

            "We're best friends, but I'm not so sure now. What'd he say?"

            "This is Lazer's final test. It will prove that he is one of the Seven, and Master of his five Chaos Emeralds. Failure means death, and in the little time I have known him, Lazer is not ready to die."

            As they grew silent, Sasha, feeling quite forgotten, cleared her throat.

            "Umm… are you ready to follow me to the clinic? Reports have come in of thousands injured…"

            All were aware of the burning city.

            "I'll put out the flames," murmured Kootan.

            "Lead on, Sasha," said Emess.

            "I'm going to Half-Floating Isle, I think that should be its name now," Sonic announced.

Hannah felt their stares.

            "What? What can I do?"

            "Come, help relieve the suffering your previous master has caused. I don't think we can save all of them," said a grim Emess. The four of them left, and Kootan vanished while Sonic ran off.

            And somewhere outside the city, a living shadow was walking nearer…

_Whither do they fly? The lost fragments of Fire question their own purpose, having spent near eternity without answers. _

_Behold a planet of rare beauty, where creatures close to gods dwell. The Fire is seen hurtling through the heavens. Seeing its flame, and feeling its sorrow even across the great void separating them, the creatures name it R'Thrys – the Incomplete. High above, the Fire fragment hears their thought. Truly, it is a fitting name, thus the lost Fire names itself R'Thrys - the Incomplete._

            _Time passes, and shadows line the skies of that fair planet. The creatures close to gods look upward, and name the darkness Thanatos. And so has the darkness been named, and the name has not been forgotten._


	7. The Element

Chapter 7 – The Element

            Lazer shot across the wasteland to meet this new threat, the katana his sole comfort. Fear was churning within him… without healing energy he had no guarantee of survival, but he'd be damned if he let Thanatos' pet run amuck. He landed a mile away from it and gaped.

The Thing was a mountain of an animal, if the dark energies swirling before him was an animal. It stood on two legs with talons sunk deep into the earth. It was top heavy, its chest must have spanned an entire football field. The arms hung, its claws slowly clenching and unclenching with loud clicks. The head had three horns, two at the sides and one pointing upward like a lightning rod. The only part of the creature that was not shadows were its eyes, a pair of golden suns set deep in its head. It saw him before long and hunched forward to stare with those unnerving yellow flames in its head. It had no mouth, but its voice caused the ground beneath Lazer to vibrate.

            "You. Hedgehog. One of the two Brothers of the Rainbow! You denied me freedom. Then, you were powerful, but where is the Rainbow now, and your brother?"

            As he knew, none but the two Brothers of the Rainbow could stop this foul beast of shadow. What he had faced two years past was a far weaker manifestation of this same creature, inside Hannah. Now he was alone, with neither Brother nor Rainbow to aid him.

            "You hesitate? Be gone! That splinter and your Emeralds are pitiful."

            "Really. You haven't even tried me yet!"

            He launched off the ground in a red comet. The thing swiped razor claws at him causing hurricanes of wind in their wake, coming several times too close for comfort. Only close up could he grasp how truly enormous his foe was, he and his sword were pitiful indeed. He hacked where the stomach would be and shot off to the right, cutting a gash running halfway across the creature's side. He had only scraped the thing but it reeled back and held the glowing scar, uttering an indignant bellow.

            "Ugh! What is this stuff?" Lazer cried. Some of the black matter (its blood?) stained his katana, and was creeping _up_ the blade! He fired the sword with Chaos energy and the black stuff evaporated quickly.

            "No. This is the same burn I felt that day…"

            "Yes, I _can_ destroy you after all, without help."

            The creature threw its head backward and shouted to the heavens.

            "Thanatos! My maker, my god! Restore the power the Ancients denied me for _far too long!"_

            Glancing upward Lazer saw a black spot appear in the bright sky. Clouds retreated from it as a black rain began to fall upon the wounded beast. The spot closed as silently as it had opened. 

            "Yes. _Yes!_ It is now as it was before I was imprisoned."

            Something on the creature was reflecting sunlight. Squinting, Lazer noticed glossy black armour covering the creature from head to talon. Instead of forearms, the creature now had a mace on its right and a sword on its left, both proportionate to their wielder's size. Crossing these weapons across its restored body, the thing spoke,

            "Now, you perish, for I am the Element of Thanatos!"

            "Alright, Element," Lazer displayed his blazing katana, "It's now a fair fight!"

Its enormous size allowed Lazer to interpret its moves well beforehand, although its titanic weapons swung with astonishing speed. The mace came down again, each spike thrice his small hedgehog length, and struck the earth with a terrible shudder. Lazer appeared where the weapon joined the Element's arm.

"Wanrikken style. Sword-Hand Crescent!"

The curved energy blade of golden chi energy ripped through the shadow, wide enough to completely sever the mace at its thinnest point. The spiked ball struck the ground with a resounding crash and the Element jerked back. It slashed horizontally, but Lazer was already gone.

"Hmm, your weapon was weak. Perhaps your armour is, also."

"Underestimation was the death of many enemies on other planets."

"What?"

"Mobius is the latest in the line of worlds _he_ has taken for his own. I was not there at the beginning, but he created me to be his perfect servant."

A new mace was sprouting from the Element's truncated arm. 

"I remember one planet, one opponent my own stature. She removed many of my limbs, but, in the end, her limbs did not regenerate."

Lazer stared blankly for a moment. This thing's being was comprised of a whole; there was no single weak point. It would simply reform whatever it lost. Wanrikken, for the first time ever, seemed useless.

"Ah, I savour the moment when my opponent grasps the futility of fighting me."

"I wounded you before. I can wound you again."

The Element drew its weapons upward.

"But never kill me," it snarled.

It favoured the sword this time, great sweeping blows that missed by a hair's breadth each time. The body was vulnerable, Lazer thought, but he couldn't get close enough. He concentrated on the enemy sword, knowing he'd have to remove it. It flashed downward, missed, and split the ground in two, lashing deep into the soil. The Element was having trouble removing it. 

_Now!_

While Lazer dove downward to meet the huge blade, he curled into a spiky ball and began to spin, his sword held outward, in a whirling flashing tornado of Chaos energy.   
            _"YAHHH!!!"_

At speeds faster even faster than he had predicted, he hit the dark sword's cold edge with blazing steel. Sparks flying, the sound of the clash ringing in his ears, Lazer's sword snapped in half as if it were a twig. 

_WHAT?_

In slow motion he saw the broken half fall to the dirt at the Element's tremendous armoured foot. 

"Damn," he grumbled, slightly dizzy, "And I _was_ going to name it Element Sonic…"

His mind switched itself off from the present and decided to lapse into the past for a moment, connecting this event with one of his Sensei's sayings. The old man had had a saying for _everything._

             _"A sword _can _fail the samurai. What does the samurai do when this happens, Lazer?"_

"He searches for a stronger sword!"      

While dueling Hannah two years past, his blade was broken when it pierced her energy shield. The Element was of the same dark energy, and he could destroy the damn thing if he had a blade that could resist the darkness. Old-fashioned, Xadran steel was out. If there were a sword of pure Chaos Energy, however…

_That's it!_

Retreating a safe distance to land, he stretched out his paws and blotted out everything else in the universe except the chaotic red energy coursing through him. He directed all of it into his paws alone, willing a sword into existence. His head began to throb in its intensity of concentration. An image of his old sword flickered into view, slowly gaining form. Sure, he could blast Chaos Energy any which way without even looking, but forcing it to stay in one place was raising hell with his endurance. The sweat came, pouring off his forehead, but he couldn't stop now. The sword was complete! Just like the old one. He relaxed slightly, looking the Element in the eye with a smug grin, and the perfect blade exploded. Damn! The energy couldn't stay together unless he willed it!

"What are you doing?" the Element challenged with poorly concealed mirth, "No weapon in the universe can stop me! Your flame is but a spark, ebbing away beneath my dark fury…"

_By the Walkers, he's full of himself,_ Lazer thought, then, with resignation, _Even if my head explodes I'll have to hold the sword together…_

Once more he attempted to create the sword, lost from sight within the red flare. The Element stood back and laughed, the sound of it echoing to the four corners of Mobius.

"This hedgehog is more spirited than many opponents I have faced. His death will be swift, MY will be done!"

The black blade scraped the clouds…

_            Hurtling among the galaxies faster than mere light, the burning fragment felt another flame. How curious was this flame! Not of the Stars, but of a living creature! Like itself, the being's flame was incomplete, thus the fragment was drawn to it, altering its timeless journey. It searched out the imperfection amongst the infinity of space, ever drawn onward to be whole again…_

__

_            Form, form, form!_

The outline of his sword was blurry and the black blade was about to descend. His will won over the Emeralds at last: the sword stood completed. He couldn't feel its grip (it was, after all, raw energy) but he held it ready to counter the Element. The gigantic dark sword fell, whistling earthward. Momentarily Lazer's mind wavered… fatigue was setting in… the sword shifted out of focus, threatening to dissolve.

            _No! I won't allow myself… to be killed!_

            A fresh, searing fire bloomed inside his head and spread over his body, settling in his paws and radiating outward. The sword snapped into focus, and… how strange… he could feel its grip. In fact, the sword seemed to be _growing._ Not asking questions, Lazer bellowed his best battle cry yet and slashed upward to counter the Element.

            Where the blades met was a supernova of red and black energy. The earth and sky were engulfed in its fury. After the initial blast, everywhere was thick swirling dust. High above could be heard,

            _"IMPOSSIBLE!"  
            _The roar of the Element shook the ground. Lazer still held his new giant sword, but half of the Element's black blade projected from the earth where it had fallen.

"My being… is not regenerating!" it cried, gaping in profound astonishment at what Lazer's sword had done. Where the blade had been cloven, insatiable red energy was eating away at the Element's arm. It was slowly spreading to its shoulder.

            "No! How can this be? This power burns more fiercely than the Rainbow!_ It is destroying me!"_

            Lazer glanced at the sword he held. Never had he seen such a weapon. The pommel stone of the sword was a pyramidal red gem, blazing with inner fire. It was not of Chaos Emerald energy, he both saw and felt. The handle, almost too thick for him to hold, ended in a huge hilt shaped as a five-point star. At the apex of the star was another, larger red jewel, diamond-shaped, with shining inner flames. The blade… he estimated six feet in length and a foot in width. It was single-edged, and, oddly, its heart was hollow running from the hilt to where the sharp edge curved to join the flat edge. Of what metal the sword was Lazer could not even guess. The star-shaped hilt and handle looked like translucent gold. The blade was brilliant white on its sharp edge, and solid black on its flat edge.

            "What are you?" he breathed.

            _R'Thrys, _it whispered to his mind.

            "No, I will not fall to you. Your splinter may have grown to a thorn, but I have assimilated many weapons before…"

            The mace changed in shape, and the Element stretched forth its mighty clawed hand. R'Thrys slipped easily out of Lazer's grip.

_Well, heck, it was too big for me anyway, _Lazer thought helplessly. The Element covered R'Thrys with its terrible hand for a moment - black vortices swirled. From the top of its fist a thick double-edged blade sprouted, with veins of red fire running over and through it. A grotesque handle and twisted hilt followed. The Element soon held a flaming black sword its own massive height.

            "Behold, your weapon is now mine, its power magnified to reflect my own."

            The Element turned to one side and carved a nearby mountain down centre. The ground heaved upward in waves of rock and earth, quaking so violently that Lazer was forced to forsake it, hovering well above the rent earth. The cloven mountain burst into flames, casting hellish shadows across the battlefield. 

            "Happy with your new toy?"

            The Element drew itself up, and its new toy, until the sword was lost somewhere in the clouds.

            "Yes!"

            R'Thrys fell. Lazer floated there, watching the sword fall, and the Element's arm along with it. Both slammed into the ground, followed by a horrendous earthquake that made the last one seem like a hiccup. When the dust cleared the Element was straining to lift the sword with its unhurt hand.

            "Twice has this thorn defeated me?" it grunted with disbelief, "Twice has it resisted _my_ might?"

            Dark R'Thrys was immovable. The Element withdrew and set about converting its free arm into another blade, dark energies converging. Lazer flew near to the abomination and rested his tiny paw on the massive handle, 'ten times thicker,' he would later describe, 'than a century oak tree'.

            "Fool," the Element scorned in its great booming voice, "That fire is hidden forever."

            Lazer's paw, then entire body, became submerged in the black energies surrounding R'Thrys. Moments later the earth around the evil perversion rippled. Even the Element had to shield its eyes from the explosion of red fire that followed. The shadows screamed in full retreat from R'Thrys, forsaking their sword shape to return to their Element. 

            Lazer wielded R'Thrys again. The Element towered over them and rumbled.      

            "You…"

            "Silence!"

Lazer's command was unexpectedly obeyed. They hefted respective weapons, light and darkness, and saw in the other's eyes that it was the final bout.

            "Die. _Die!"_

            While the Element roared the black blade sung through the air. 

_How foolish of this insect to think it can overcome _me!

My_ blade brings death to him!_

I _have conquered planets! This creature is…_

The black edge nicked Lazer's left ear but the lingering shadow did not last long in the crimson flame.

_A slight miss... it does not matter. One more attack and I will…_

Unfortunately for the Element, Lazer did not miss his mark. R'Thrys embedded itself in the Element's left breastplate, where its heart would have been, if it had a heart. The Element grasped the glowing handle with thumb and forefinger but by then the ravaging inferno had spread upward and outward, to its remaining arm, its head and past the midriff to eat up the shadowy pillars of legs. The Element bellowed a single, horrified cry before it was consumed whole.

***

The city had not escaped the effects of the literally earth-shattering struggle. Most of its buildings were in ruins. All streets and bridges closest to the battle were rendered unusable. The spirit of the citizens, though, was not broken, since the growing number of injured had awoken afresh the survival instinct of all the city folk.

In a small house whose western wall had collapsed Hannah, Emess and several of his clan had a makeshift hospital going. The clinic had collapsed not half an hour ago from the first of the earthquakes.

Emess turned away after tending to an elderly squirrel. Hannah was having an awkward time setting a broken raccoon tail. She would learn, he thought, and walked to Jubel (tireless she was, carrying the injured in and out of the room).

"I'm being called again. Be right back."

Smiling, she touched his hand with her paw and he left. Striding outside to the chaos of rubble and the sounds of a city in crisis, he located an abandoned hoverbike tilted over on its side. The keys were there, thank God, the bike had been left in a panicked hurry. Righting the vehicle and swatting dust off the seat he checked the ignition. Growled like Jubel, though its rear antigrav cylinder was shaky. Gripping the handles, he wondered if twenty-five years had erased his memory of how to ride. When he zoomed off and drifted a corner with ease, however, he realized that though his mind had forgotten his body had not.

***

Lazer caught R'Thrys before it fell out of nothingness. 

"Ah! It's over. By the Walkers," he handled the blade, making mighty arcs in the air, "Where did this come from? Its fire…"

**"For this, you will perish."**

"Thanatos!"

Lazer saw the horizon being devoured: night was approaching far too quickly. He spun around in a full circle. A black tidal wave was coming toward him from all directions! Had Thanatos overwhelmed Mobius during that battle? An entire planet of shadow was converging on him!

"Show yourself!"

**"I will give you merciful release, hedgehog."**

Burning eyes came into existence everywhere. Horns grew, black armour formed, weapons of death sprouted from unspeakable limbs. Lazer shot to the zenith, and the creatures followed him, assembled in the firmament: an army of Elements, hundreds upon hundreds strong, that had learned to fly.

**"Now you realize why none have ever stopped me. With this knowledge you shall leave this plane of existence forever."**

"I think not, Thanatos. Do you not know me?"

**"You are alone. Wanrikken will not save you."**

His words rang with grim finality. Lazer _was_ alone, the other Six too faraway to help. 

"So be it." 

Drawing from his limitless Chaos energy, he held R'Thrys in defiance to the god. Elements converged upon him, but he had the final say, a solitary point of light at the heart of Evil's night:

"I will _not_ die without trying! _Wanrikken!"_

***

            Glancing up, Emess saw a red sun send beams of fiery light into the midst of dark shadow forms. During the last few very bumpy miles the rear cylinder gave out, causing the rear end of the bike to drag and almost rattle the teeth out of his head. Emess jumped off and hit the ground running. There Lazer was, in the distance, a falling star. A small cloud of dust went up and then there was only the sound of the wind and Emess' rapid footsteps as he scrabbled across the broken terrain. Above, it was once more a clear sky.

            Over the crest of a crumbling hill Emess looked past the fallen hedgehog to behold a cloven sword and mace, each bigger than a house. While he hurried to Lazer he stopped to watch the dark pieces melt. The resulting shadowy puddles slid silently across the ground and melded into one, which gained form as a gaping mouth. The same mouth now rushed toward its prone adversary, Lazer, intending to chew him up or something awful like that. Then Emess saw R'Thrys, and knew it was _that_ which had called him. Gripped by a sudden urgency, Emess, who had never held a weapon in his life, snatched R'Thrys off the ground. With the natural skill of a master he leaped, switched the blade in midair, and drove the shining sword into the black maw! It screamed thrashing about the ground, straining with its dark might to get away. Emess stood firm, leaning all his weight on the sword that blazed with diamond-bright fire. He endured a gurgling screeching cry before the final Element exploded into air.

            Slowly at first, then in a torrent, unwelcome images flooded into Emess' head while he held the sword R'Thrys. It was a world, not Mobius - one filled with creatures like him, and they too were unhappy. In a sustained blast the hatred of billions of minds violated him, tore him up inside and when he couldn't stand it any longer he let go of R'Thrys.

            "Why?"

            He sunk to his knees in shock, forgetting to breathe. He wished that R'Thrys had simply killed him instead of hurling him into the midst of Hell for one moment. No wonder, he thought, that half of the blade was black. How could evil be mixed with holy? Why did this sword have a connection to that other world? It mesmerized him. He tried to get up but fell to one knee. God seemed too far away after that black rush of _sin._ Then he realized: God _always_ feels that same Hell he felt for just a few seconds. Remembering his faith, he murmured words from a hymn.

_"May Thy rich grace impart_

_Strength to my fainting heart_

_My zeal inspire…"_

            He was able to stand up then, and began to understand R'Thrys while he sung the remaining lines to an empty sky:

_"As Thou hast died for me_

_O may my love to Thee_

_Pure, warm, and changeless be,_

_A living fire."_


	8. Taken

Chapter 8 – Taken

            Thanatos brooded over Mobius. Within the counsel of his being, he thought.

            "Twice, in one of its days, has this planet resisted my power? A Voice, and a Sword, defeated my efforts. But there is always weakness. Mine has been proven twice, but these are mortal creatures, there is always a vice. Ah, yes…"

            His eyes saw far. He focused on one apartment, in the city under the Voice's protection, where a feline of soft lilac fur was entertaining her companion.

"There is one activity predominant among the creatures of every planet… it is inescapable, undeniable to the very nature of living beings."

His eyes detected powerful emotion, but only from the male. It was just another session for the female.

"An activity that is so… desirable… that it has become a trade."

            Thanatos watched the scene played out to the end. He smiled.

            "An activity that promotes… weakness."

            ***

            With Tornado parked outside, its pilot Tails and Sonic entered Corona Den. By the eight Emerald glows, they saw Knuckles, with head in paws, sitting on a hump of earth.

            "Yo Red! What, you got a hangover?"

            "Would it were that simple," the guardian muttered, "I can't sleep."

            "One night makes no difference," Tails said from experience.

            "It's been a week. I just can't sleep."

            His friends sat around him.

            "You're the 'sleepless guardian', huh? From that poetry of yours."

            "Ancient Walkers made that up, not me. Anyway, why are you here? You should be helping Freedom's injured."

            "We wanna know what happens next."

            A deep grumbling sigh came from Knuckles. He stood and shuffled over to the Earth Emerald, leaning against its unmoving, hovering surface. Yellow light played over his gaunt features. Exhaustion lines were etched onto his face.

            "As Seven, we gather where the Master is, and release the full potential of the Servers."

            "And what is their potential?" the young kitsune asked.

            "To kill… Thanatos."

            Sonic did not believe it.

            "You can't kill a god. Banish him from Mobius, lock him away in some void or the other, yeah, I can believe those things, but _kill?"_

"Even the gods do not persist forever."

            "Then why are they called gods?" Tails objected, "Immortal, almighty… isn't that what gods are?"

            Knuckles' sigh could not be wearier.

            "Tails, we do not know the true nature of Thanatos, or Destiny, or any other gods. All we know, is that they perceive, control, and understand infinitely more than we do. We name them gods because they are above us."

            "And yet, you say we can kill this one god," Sonic mused.

            "Yes, for Chaos Emeralds are dual by nature, partly of the physical and partly of the divine. We're just using them for our survival."

            "Fight god with god," nodded Tails, "Well, it won't make sense telling everything until everyone's here."

            "So why don't you call them."

            Tails blinked.

            "Huh?"

            "The voice of the wind travels to all corners of Mobius."

            Knuckles gestured to the sky blue Emerald. Tails was the picture of confusion, his ears and tails a-twiddle.

            "But how?"

            "Same way you gave birth to it, believe."

            Sonic watched with arms folded as his friend touched the Emerald.

            ***

            _"Um… hello?"_

Lazer woke up and looked around. Tails was nowhere to be seen. Hannah, Emess and company were bustling around with bandages and antiseptic powder while Freedom's citizens groaned.

            "Tails?"

            A while later the voice came again.

            _"Uh… anyone out there?"_

Emess and Hannah stood still this time and also looked for the kitsune that was not there.

            _"If you guys can hear me, come to Floating Isle, Corona Den, ASAP."_

They went outside, leaving Jubel in charge of the small hospital. There were fewer sirens now and the fires were gone. Freedom, though mostly rubble, still retained some of the grandeur it had lost in the past few hours. R'Thrys came down and was caught by Lazer's paw.

            "That is not your sword," said Kootan, slinking out of an alley. His ancient eyes told him this sword was not of Mobius.

            "True. R'Thrys saved my life, I believe it will save many more."

            Lazer tilted his head and frowned at the hollow sword, enormous, though its weight was as a feather.

            "It has been watching Freedom. It tells me this city is incomplete."

            "The place is a mess," Hannah said, gesturing to the near-total ruin.

            "It means more than that. Anyway, you're all coming with me to Corona Den?"

            "Excuse me, but where is Floating Isle?" Emess asked.

            "About a mile up, few hundred kilometers to the west."

            "Up?" he wondered in perfect innocence. His knowledge lay in the Forest and no further. 

Lazer held out R'Thrys to the company.

            "Here. Everyone hold some part of it, and I'll teleport…"

            "No!" Emess cried, remembering the awful darkness afresh, "No one can touch R'Thrys!"

            "Why?" its wielder asked. Emess shook his head.

            "Trust me, it must never be touched by anyone except you."

            He grabbed a handful of Lazer's quills.

            "I think these will suffice."

            ***

            Slightly dizzy from the rush of Chaos Control, Emess walked with his companions into the golden Den, and beheld further wonders of eight large, hovering jewels. He stood nearby Sonic while Knuckles addressed the Seven.

            "Sonic, Tails, Hannah, Lazer, Emess, Kootan and myself… we are the chosen few to save Mobius from its latest oppressor."

            "Lucky us," murmured Sonic.

            "At last, these Emeralds are assembled, and no further role remains to be played except ours. Each of you, to your Emerald!"

            Solemnly they went to their appointed places. Emess, mesmerized by the self-illuminating room, was swiveling his head in all directions. 

"You're the white one," Knuckles pointed out.

            "Oh."

            Emess went over, looked the white jewel up and down, tapped it and said, "How do we make them go?"

            "I was getting to that," Knuckles said slowly. Emess shrugged and drummed his fingers on the glowing facets. The six others waited in silence while Knuckles held the Earth Emerald and furrowed his brow.

            "All powers are one," he whispered, and said in a loud voice, "Mobius! Planet, I call to _you,_ the great soul that gave life to us…"

            ***

            Thanatos halted his movement over the realms of Mobius and turned his eyes sharply toward the planet's centre of power. From there, radiating outward, energies were awakening that had slept since the fitful days of creation. He felt them flowing, drawn out of deepest sleep, passing through and disturbing his being.

"Why do they persist? Now my Plan must be altered."

With a murmur of thunder Thanatos sprang toward Half-Floating Isle.

***

Earth Emerald was bright. Seven more remained to be lit.

"The planet is responding. Tails!"

"Yeah?"

"Call to all the creatures of Mobius. Ask them to pray for us! Let your voice fly on the winds!"

***

Words flitted by him, whispering a call for support. Traversing the watery depths, and soaring through fragile clouds, he burst onto the airborne fragment of earth as a dark mountain of cloud. Plants wilted. Moving creatures fell as though dead. Swarming over green valleys and burning deserts, he drew closer to the place where his enemies lay.

***

"Let fire burn in the spirits of those who pray. Let their soul energies fight against the dark god!"

Lazer's thoughts embraced Mobius as a comprehensive whole. So many living beings! Hidden in the planet's core, walking its earthen plains, flying across the skies, swimming in the deep… not all of them had answered the call of Tails. Guided by the Flame Emerald, he touched those who prayed from within.

All their spirits flared with brilliant light.

***

The soul-fire was invisible to all who dwelt on Mobius. But the collective, dazzling flames were revealed to Thanatos, as he searched out his enemies. Throughout Mobius, they were as stars in _his_ night.

"As the Voice, and the Sword, so do these spirits oppose me?"

Swooping down the Mushroom Hills, he found the centre of power, just as the fourth Emerald was about to be lit.

***

"Kootan! Your magic…"

_THROOM!_

Whatever words Knuckles said were drowned in the sudden destruction of Corona Den. Earth and rock dissolved in the whirling ferocity of Thanatos who snatched the eight Emeralds and those who held them, flinging everyone upward into the full annihilation of his wrath. But they were not consumed. Seven spheres of light darted away from the furious god.

Master Emerald, alone, remained, as black energies sizzled around it.

"You…"

Thanatos recognized the connection this one had to all the others.

            "Before, you resisted me, but no more!"

            Those on the isle who watched the sky saw a sphere of darkness expand, and rise, becoming as vast as the sky itself, stretching from horizon to horizon. At the centre, the tiniest dot of green light could be seen. Then the darkness, all of it, collapsed into the light, and there was a calamitous explosion.__

_            But the light remained._

"Yet again, you resist," the god averred after restoring his energies, "But I will break you."

            The darkness gathered itself and flew east, leaving a breathless silence in its wake.

            Its descent was slow at first, but the remaining half of Floating Isle gained speed and splashed into the ocean, wetting half its counterpart with ocean waves. It was Floating Isle no more, for the Master had been taken.        


	9. Farewells

Chapter 9 – Farewells

            "Your poor island," said Hannah.

            "It has fallen before. My people will survive."

            From the coast, Great Forest behind them, the Seven contemplated Floating Isle, which was indeed floating on the deep blue sea under midday's sun. One could only imagine the confusion among the inhabitants of either half, dealing with the division and unexpected re-uniting in the water.

            "Tornado's been destroyed! What now?" came the voice of Tails. Knuckles rubbed his forehead and growled under his breath.

            "Have to get out of this damn sun."

            "And when did the sun begin to bother you, Red?"

            "Ever since I was stuck in the desert with no food except a fire-ant, Blue," Knuckles grumbled, walking to the shade of the nearest palm tree. When the others followed, he dismissed them with an irritable wave of paws.

            "Well, what do you want from me? Go say your farewells, eat your last meals, just _go!"_

They stopped short but Sonic charged forward.

            "What, you don't have any plans?"

            Knuckles sat under the tree and glared.

            "O course I do, you ignoramus hedgehog. Leave the Servers with me. We meet at Althair's lighthouse at six o'clock. Do _not_ be late."

            "Don't worry," Sonic huffed, and was gone with Tails in tow. 

"Excuse me, where is this lighthouse?" the dark feline queried. Knuckles clenched his paws in anger but let them fall. It was useless.

"To the east of Lava Reef, at the very edge of the island."

Hannah bowed elegantly and vanished with a swirl of her cape. Emess, Lazer and Kootan left the sullen Knuckles with his Servers and walked awhile down the beach. Emess breathed and stretched his arms.

            "I've never seen the ocean, or walked on a beach. Beautiful."

            "Kootan, what will you do?" asked Lazer, quills bending with the sea breeze.

            "I shall accompany Emess to his village. Alone, he cannot make the journey before we must go to this lighthouse."

            "Very well. Six o'clock, then."

            Lazer forsook the earth and R'Thrys followed. Emess considered his amphibian companion.

            "What manner of fantastic transport do you possess, friend?"

            "Transport, it is not. It is a state of _being._ If I am one place, I cannot be in another. Therefore I move, without moving."

            "Then show me, for I do not understand your words."

            Kootan's leathery palm touched the arm of flesh. Unlike Chaos Control, there was no flash of light, no dizzy rush of movement. Emess felt his sight being _stretched, _across green forest and gray mountains, alighting in Freedom City Hall. The rest of his body was pulled along with his sight, shifting from the sand of the beach to the grass of the courtyard.

            "Most remarkable," he said when his voice arrived. He would find Jubel and the others, and then go back to the village. There he would change out of these damned tight clothes, into the casual wear he was accustomed to. When that was taken care of, there was a story to be told.

            ***

            Rebecca would understand. She was in the final months of childbearing, and her husband with six of his friends had to save the world from an evil god. She would understand, he kept on thinking, while skimming just above the treetops. 

For the past few miles his pulse had begun to throb at his temples. The feeling of 'something wrong' moved down to his stomach, as the distance between he and his wife closed. He stopped abruptly, more than ten miles away, his stomach churning. 

"Thanatos. He is here… no!"

            The living, evil aura was both a psychic and a physical force spreading its fingers throughout the forest. Trees were dying here and there. Bare barren patches of ground were appearing too often in the forest like open sores.

Thanatos had found Cridon, and the mother of his child.

            "Rebecca… Ashlar…"

            He must repeat their names, he must have _righteous_ fury; if he had any other sort of anger, Thanatos would win. 

He was in Cridon, and was certain that without R'Thrys he would suffocate in the black air. Everywhere he saw people laughing. Some of them were engaged in acts of lust right there in the streets. Intoxication of the mind _and_ body: Thanatos was becoming more efficient. 

"Rebecca… Ashlar…"

Shoving aside several of the dark partygoers he burst into the dojo. She was alone, an undead grin on her face but she was not laughing.

"Lazer honey baby darling _why_ aren't you smiling dear?"

He kept his jaw rigid while he walked nearer. R'Thrys was a still, silent companion hovering just within reach.

"Come back to me, Becky, please try to come back."

"I hate that name," she murmured and rested her body against his. Her warmth, and the maternal warmth of her belly, was all present, all correct, and yet… he saw beyond her flesh.

Beyond emotions, past the mind, deeper than thought - still further penetrated his psychic gaze! Her soul, the divine reality of a person, was naked before him. And further down, in her womb… a new soul was already there, waiting. The fingers of Thanatos were creeping around both mother and child. Lazer pulled his sight away from Rebecca and took in _all_ of Cridon base in a single vision: Thanatos was trying to possess the souls of other beings.

"The soul of another is not yours. You can ensnare the body and even the mind, but how can you hope to own something not even _you_ understand, Thanatos?"

Rebecca had pulled away from Lazer and was looking at him.

"Time, Lazer. All he needs is time, and experience. In time, he will unlock the secret of _existence_ itself, Lazer. Then, time will become meaningless, and there will be no other gods."

A change darker than thunder came over Lazer's face. R'Thrys sensed him and allowed itself to be gripped.

"She is not yours. _They_ are not yours!"

"We will become a part of the All! I will become a goddess. A goddess, Lazer! Greater than Destiny!"

Lazer held R'Thrys high! With a full-throated roar he commanded, _"LEAVE THEM!"_

A soul-freezing scream escaped from Rebecca and she fell to her knees. The fires of R'Thrys moved over her, licking the wooden floor, walls and ceiling of the dojo. They burned but were not consumed. In fact, the flames spread _outside_ the dojo, growing, exploding until all of Cridon was beneath a dome of living fire. In the midst of this tremendous inferno laughter became screams, as Thanatos felt pain, and withdrew.

Then R'Thrys fell forgotten, and Lazer took Rebecca into his arms, crying her name, kissing her, and saying, Thank Destiny, Thank all the gods that not one hair on her sweet head was harmed.

***

            Sonic watched the fireplace in sleepy content. He had forgotten how cold it was outside ever since Floating Island was cracked in two like an eggshell, and the threat of dark destruction gained priority over his worries. Winter was close to clutching the forest in its snowy grip. The cold set in long before that happened.

            But now, with his lunch resting as a warm weight in his stomach, with Sally, Paula and Tails seated around him, he let his mind and body drift to some quiet, distant place, to forget the war he was fighting.

            An insistent poking to his ribs awakened him.

            "Sonic. Sonic!"

            "Mm?"

            "It's five o'clock. We gotta go to the lighthouse."

            "Oh, Destiny," he swore and shrugged the sandman off his shoulders. He had burrowed a soft warm hole in the couch that invited more sleep. But duty called. And it wasn't the lighthouse.

            "Sally?"

            "She's upstairs with Paula."

            Sonic dragged his weary body to its feet and became businesslike. 

"Go start the Tornado. I'll be out in a minute."

            "Sonic," Tails sighed, "Tornado was destroyed along with Corona Den."

            "Oh, right. Damn. Well, I dunno, hang around here awhile. I gotta show Sally her gift."

            "What…?"

            "Don't bother," Sonic said, cutting the question off at its source, "If we survive, I'll show you, too."

            He crept upstairs to the second floor of his home. Moving silently had become second nature to him since Paula began living here ("Shh, you'll wake her"). Sally was crouched over the baby's crib, watching their child with tender blue eyes. Her hair and fur were radiant with sunlight that poured in through the single-pane window. This goddess, he thought happily, this was the squirrel he had married.

            "Asleep?"

            "Yes," came the soft reply. She turned slightly, her body facing him, her eyes still watching their precious daughter. Sonic went to her and touched her face and kissed her, it felt so right, and who cared if the sun saw them?

            "What was that for?" she asked, her paw resting lightly behind his head, small delicate fingers interlaced among his hard sharp quills. 

            "For not giving you your anniversary gift earlier. I'm going to show it to you, now."

            "Whoa, soldier, not in front of the baby."

            He laughed, but not too loudly, for the baby's sake.

            "I'll take you there. Will you run with me?"

            "I shall run with you," she said, and smiled. He bent, swept her feet off the floor, while her arms wrapped around his neck. She was heavier, with the second child, but light as a willow leaf in his arms.

            Tails heard a bump on the roof and didn't realize the house was empty until they came back half an hour later.

            ***

            So he ran. He chose the easiest path, lest a stray twig mar her perfect face or tear at her maternal dress. Trees, rocks and ground were all a blur because only she existed. His feet knew the way, so his eyes could occupy themselves with her. All the trashy romance novels Bunnie read were true: your lover became the centre of your existence. Day and night, waking and sleeping, in joy and in pain, love followed you and vindicated all the dewy romantics that had set pen to paper.

            Sand was but a memory under his feet when they hit the water, and kept going. Sonic was going to the fallen Isle: Knuckles saw a fine spray of mist cutting its way among the waves, and suspected as much. In the arms of Sonic, not a drop touched Sally's hair or fur.

            It was only when she was set carefully down in Marble Gardens that Sally questioned him.

            "Where is it?"

            Keeping his silence, he held her paw and walked toward the Western Temple. The old, old columns had held their strength, even after the shuddering splashdown of the island. He led her up the smooth carved steps, under the eaves to a place where the ceiling was partially collapsed and sunlight shone through.

            Sally stood there in marble glory. Sally of flesh and fur gasped.

She stood there, a gentle smile gracing her face. Blank eyes turned to the paw she held upward, open-palmed to the sunlight, as though to catch the sun's rays in her smooth white hand.

Sonic waited.

"You had this done for me? She's… oh, Sonic," Sally managed to say before giving him a mighty hug. She was the one who kissed him then, as sunlight played about her sculpted image that seemed to smile at the lovers.

"You like it, then."

"I _love_ it, but…"

There is always a 'but', Sonic thought.

"Why is she… why am I naked?"

"Clothes don't do you justice," he replied honestly.

"But would it be appropriate? I mean, won't _hundreds_ of people walk into here over time and see me…?"

"Yes, they will, and _we'll_ be damn proud of it, too," Sonic said. Her blue eyes fluttered, but she nodded, suddenly defiant.

"Yes. You're right! It's me, to hell what people think about clothes…"

"That don't do you justice," Sonic reminded her.

"Right."

She blinked, and flushed deep red under her facial fur.

"Dear Goddess, what will Knuckles say when he…"

"If he says anything other than you're beautiful, I'll knock his lights out."

She giggled and kissed him again.

***

"Can't I stay a little longer?"

"No, you will leave now."

"I'll do anything… anything for you!"

"Out!"

Gary was flung half naked into the corridor with his fly open. His shirt followed and flopped onto his face while the door slammed shut.

Hannah dressed carefully, smoothing each item of clothing as she put it on. Her shiny black cape swirled about her shoulders. The platinum pendant was clasped closed around her throat, its seven blue diamonds ringed about a graven image of the Black Emerald. Her only other jewelry was a single pearl earring for her left ear.

Hannah leaned out her apartment window to watch the city trundle by. She admired it: although damaged by Thanatos, it now seemed more _alive_ than ever. Dusty, tired people were talking to each other in the torn roads. Children laughed and played among the rubble. The injured were given places to rest. _None_ of these would have happened if the city was untouched, unchanged by crisis.

"See what a little chaos can do," she remarked, "It seems that life is more strongly affirmed when faced with death."

But turning away from the window, and back to the matters at hand, what did she have to say farewell to, except this room? This room, where she had bedded a lucky few? This room, that was her only home now the isle called Dark Jewel was no more? She missed having someone to relate to. Even the old, old Elders were better than this silent four-room apartment. Even after she came back, would there be anyone to welcome her back except the random lovers?

"Isn't there anyone for me…?"

The room had nothing to say. Her whiskers twitched angrily, she muttered the arcane words and was gone with the flash of her cape.


	10. Xadra revisited

Chapter 10 – Xadra revisited

            Althair peered at the sunset through the hole in the wall he called a window. Naki had finally paid him a visit after Destiny knows how long. Then he had started explaining the power that brought Floating Isle to rest in the sea, along with tired mutterings of a quest to some distant land to battle Evil. That boy needed more sleep. Althair told him as much.

            "Due to the foolishness of the Ancients, old friend, I am cursed with indefinite insomnia."

            "Foolishness!" Althair stabbed at Knuckles with his walking stick, "You are the fool, you do not understand why they did this to you."

            Althair turned his head and the beads of his dreadlocks clinked together. Some other young people were walking up his lighthouse, to the room where he always kept a lamp lit. In the sky, that lamp served no purpose. Now that the isle was in its natural element of water, it might guide sailors home. Or warn them off, since this place had a knack for attracting evil gods.

            "What hope do you seven have against this god?"

Knuckles viewed the weathered face of Althair with bleary eyes.

"The hope of Destiny and Fate. It is as you say, what the gods decree, will happen."

            "But what if another god counters their will?"

            A short, coughing laugh came from Knuckles.

            "It's two to one. I'd say the odds are in our favour."

            Greetings were given all around as the six others arrived, Hannah being the last.

            "I've never seen this place before," Sonic remarked, staring about at the simple room with its natural rock table, sole lamp and window, "If it weren't for Tails, I'd never have found it."

            Indeed, this lighthouse was behind a hill that blinded the Isle-dwellers to its presence. It was carved out of the hill that shielded it, making its discovery even more impossible. Except for the wandering feet of Althair, none would have known of its existence. If you did not see the bright lamp shining only to the sea, from what looked like a hill, you would miss it.

            "This is all?" mused Althair, sizing up the younger generation.

            "This is all," confirmed Knuckles.

            "Good. I shall be above. I rather fancy watching the sunset from the hilltop."

            Knuckles yawned at length when the tapping of Althair's walking stick drew away.

            "Cover your mouth," Hannah huffed, "No one here is interested in your teeth."

            "My fault, it's just that…"

            He yawned once more, and none doubted that his dental hygiene was short of perfect.

            "Goddess, I'll be doing this forever."

            "Did we come here to watch him sleep?" Kootan whispered to Sonic, who became cross and shook Red's shoulder.

            "Snap out of it! Last thing we need is a tired guide."

            Stifling his need to express weariness, Knuckles faced the gathering.

            "I know I'm the guardian, but I have no idea where the Master Emerald was taken after Thanatos stole it. He's blocking its energy output completely. But that's why we have Kootan."

            Suddenly the centre of attention, Kootan explained.

            "Mobius is the mother of many magical places. These places, as the gods decreed, exist _within_ me. Water is home to most of these places, thus I am of its element. I feel that one of these places is being disturbed this very moment. Upon Neos, beyond what was Xadra, the Master will be found."

            "The Living Mountains," breathed Lazer, "How dare Thanatos defile the sanctuary of the gods?"

            Focus shifted to the red hedgehog who divulged further knowledge.

            "After the great labour of creation, the gods rested in the valley of a mountain range. While they slept, the mountains closed around them, shielding them from the cold of the North and the heat of the South. In gratitude, the gods gave wisdom to these mountains and marked them as holy. Not even the Xadran government, while it lived, would venture further than the country's borders to see if those mountains really existed. But they do. I've seen them. I've _heard_ them."

            There was silence for a moment while the others thought. Then Hannah scoffed at Kootan.

            "You! A wrinkly old thing, as the focal point of all magic inherent to Mobius?"

            Hannah was not pretty when scornful. Her eyes snapped. Her tail flicked dangerously around her ankles. Kootan's stare was withering.

"And you, a young terror, who believes herself above all others in sorcery?"

            "I will never believe it!"

            "Believe what you may, for you are _not_ above all others."

            "And these _living_ mountains? Foolishness! I've never heard of them!"

            "You know not all things, mistress of darkness," Lazer said quietly. Knuckles intervened.

            "Truly, inner conflict will lead to ruin. Your quarrel is with Thanatos alone, not with each other!"

            "Listen to him," Sonic warned, "Or else we're all gonna die."

            "And what is death? Is it really such a bad thing?" Hannah returned, arching an eyebrow at the hedgehog who grit his teeth back at her. Angry words were ripe on their lips but the voice of Emess checked their zeal.

            "You're all afraid."

            They watched him. He now wore a roomy jersey and long jeans. His feet were bare as usual.

            "But you're not afraid of death. You're afraid of life. Death is easy; it brings peace, but life, oh, life! It is the offspring of chaos. We never know what will happen next. Everything falls apart around us. We suffer. So I ask you, what's the point?"

            "What do you mean?" asked Tails.

            "Don't you all have a reason to fight Thanatos? If there is no _reason,_ there is no _purpose._ So, everyone, if you're ready for death, then back out now, no one stands in judgment of you."

            A grim silence followed.

            "I am not ready to die!" said Hannah at last.

            "Why?" challenged Emess.

            "Because I want to prove I'm _better_ than him, that self-proclaimed god."

            Emess smiled and clapped his hands.

"Excellent. Any other reasons?"

And he was told:

            "For Sally and Paula!"

            "For Rebecca and Ashlar."

            "For Mobius."

            "For miracles!"

            Then they considered Tails. And what reason did a fourteen year old have to fight?

            "For life!"

            "To Xadra! To the Living Mountains!" cried Emess, and the Server Emeralds heard. Seven saviours were borne aloft through the sky, to the place where Destiny, Fate and all of Mobius would meet.

***

            "He trembles."

            Kootan, above and behind Lazer, was watching the red hedgehog closely. Emess was beside Kootan and, hearing those words, spoke.

            "Strange, that such a strong spirit is afraid of the past."

            "It is his past, present _and_ future. He will never forget the dead. Nor can he forgive himself of their deaths."

            "Why?"

            "He could have killed Robotnik before, but he did not know that Robotnik would go to such ends."

            The black shores of Xadra were visible within a roiling blue fog. Seven Servers flew higher, above the invisible poison that emanated from the dead soil.

            Lazer wept.

The others respected his grief, and remained silent. But R'Thrys, that was following Lazer even among the skies, moved to touch his paw.

"What do you want, sword? Leave me alone, leave me alone."

R'Thrys would not be denied. It pushed its handle into his grasp: he held it, and stopped flying. The others gathered around and waited.

"What is it?" he asked, holding tears in his eyes. R'Thrys pointed itself downward. Lazer looked at his companions and they nodded, understanding that they were not to follow. Leaving the Flame Emerald with them, Lazer and R'Thrys descended to ground zero, the former protected by his Emeralds from the death that permeated the land and air.

"Why do you do this to me? You curious sword, don't you know what _happened_ here?"

R'Thrys serenely replied, _"This land is incomplete."_

And R'Thrys dove underground, deep into the ground that could never support life… the ground where millions had breathed their last. Confused by its strange words and action, Lazer did nothing and waited.

In the absolute stillness, there was a sound. It was a single, ascending note, which could not be placed on any musical scale, for this note was not heard with his ears. He heard it within the hidden places of his soul. He heard it in places where none have been, places no one knows of, for none have been there.

But the music of R'Thrys was there. And growing louder. Lazer closed his eyes and tried to blot out this music that terrified him, he felt that the core of his being would burst from the non-sound that was ringing within the uncharted territories of his body and soul.

R'Thrys ended. Lazer gasped in relief and opened his eyes.

He wasn't protecting himself: R'Thrys had burst the Chaos Emerald shield that prevented nuclear radiation from violating his body. Alarmed, he expelled the poison air from his lungs and shot upward, until he was among blue skies and the six others.

"I'm going to die, oh Goddess, I breathed the air down there!"

Kootan immediately went (floated) forward and touched Lazer's forehead.

"You haven't been poisoned. You're going to live a hundred years."

Lazer blinked.

"Then _what…"_

R'Thrys was among them. Lazer stared long and hard at the hollow sword, thinking.

"What did you do?"

_"I did what I cannot do for myself. I completed the land."_

"Did it say something?" queried Sonic.

            "It said it completed Xadra?"

            And suddenly it was clear to him.

            "It took away the radiation."

            "Eh?" said Sonic.

            "You…" Lazer said to R'Thrys, and touched its unmoving blade with his paw, "You healed Xadra?"

            _"It is complete."_

"It is complete," he echoed, mystified.

            "Hey," cried Tails, "The fog is gone!"

            They looked down, and it was true. The blue nuclear fog had dissipated, and the wind down there was moving again. Ruins of a once great nation lay bare before them. Even now, some of Xadra's magnificence remained in its broken structures, as the dregs remain in a bottle that is drained of wine.

            "My home," was all Lazer could whisper, before breaking into fresh tears, tears of joy.

            "And I shall give it the blessing of water," declared Kootan, seeing the water that poured from Lazer's face, "For tears alone will not rebuild a nation."

            He raised his paw, and the Water Emerald, to the clouds. Thunder sounded, and it began to rain.

            And somewhere down there, buried deep in the now healthy soil, a seed began to grow.


	11. Living Mountains

Chapter 11 – Living Mountains

            For the weary, there was no rest. Knuckles led them on after Xadra' resurrection, to the place where gods once dwelt. Now the earth and sky were dark, though Nature's night was not yet come, for a far more potent night had fallen over the mountain range. They depended on the seven Emeralds for light, and came to rest before the foot of the nearest mountain.

            "We have to stop here, or else _he'll_ sense the Emeralds' power. Also, don't use anything magical or otherwise, he can sense those too."

            "No problem, Red, lead the way."

            "It's so high!" said Hannah, "I'm no mountain cat, either."

            "Tough," smirked Sonic, "Or is it too hard for the greatest sorceress of all time?"

            "Hold your tongue, or I'll take it out," she growled, and began the trudge upward with a scowl on her face.

            No one could see the peak. Thanatos was at the top, and in the valley, struggling with the Master Emerald, his being billowing out over all the mountains as a great thundering and crashing was heard throughout the range. Tails stuck with Sonic at the rear, Kootan walked with Emess and Lazer while Hannah followed just behind Knuckles at the lead. Their footsteps crunched on loose gravel, they clambered over dykes and around fjords. Its gentle slope ended at a sharp incline, and the seven began to climb, but a very indignant voice boomed and shook them off and into a heap.

            _"WHAT DO YOU WANT?"_

"Yep, living mountains," sighed Sonic as he brushed pebbles out of his quills, "You gonna deal with her, Red?"

            "It's my job," the echidna shrugged and called the Earth Emerald. He knelt, gripping earth and rocks in his paws, and prayed to the mountain.          

_"Spirit, grant us safe passage into your valley…"_

_            "AND WHY SHOULD I DO THAT?"_

_            "We wish to stop the god, Thanatos, who now resides within your valley."_

_            "THANATOS IS **MY** GOD. HE IS **ALL!**"_

"Oh dear," murmured Hannah as an avalanche of rocks tumbled toward them. Knuckles snarled and punched into the side of the mountain, channeling the Earth Emerald's power through him.

            "You _will_ let us go! _The Walkers demand it!"_

A slab of stone burst out of the mountain, forming a canopy over their heads that deflected the avalanche to crash down on either side. The spirit of the mountain became silent, but the cloud of Thanatos grew more violent above.

            "We cannot afford to use the Emeralds again," warned Knuckles, "He suspects we are here. One more episode like this will doom us."

            "Doom await us all," sighed Hannah and began climbing. The others murmured among themselves and followed.

***

            Time passed uncounted. They rested on a flat shelf of rock, fatigue showing in most faces, especially Knuckles who lay flat and stared at the black sky, wishing he could sleep.

            "Are we there yet?"

            "Shut up, Sonic."

            "Go stuff yourself, Lazer."

            "Oh great, now I'm thinking about food."

            Tails groaned. He was sure it was past dinnertime. Looking up didn't help… Thanatos obscured all. He couldn't tell if they were halfway or quarter way to the top. And there was the climb down to think about. He groaned again.

            "We could do it quickly," mused Kootan, "Just use the Emeralds and fly as fast as we can into the valley."

            "Do you want to face an army of Elements?" Knuckles yawned. Kootan did not answer.

            "Think of the celebration afterward, not the present suffering," Emess suggested. Sonic snorted. Tails groaned louder and held his stomach. Hannah's voice was a whiplash.

            "You do that, while we focus on _reality. _Goddess, to even think we'll succeed is foolishness…"

            "Pessimist," accused Sonic. Hannah showed her fangs, snarling. Sonic looked at them with detached amusement.

            "Ooh, pearly."

            "Goddess," she swore and looked away. Knuckles rolled over and got to his feet with a heavy sigh.

            "Come on. Up."

            He was in the lead, but now the climb was almost vertical. He punched into the rock, going up, creating holds for the others to climb with.

            For an hour, as time is guessed, they ascended and made it to another ledge. There was room enough to sit and rest their limbs. Kootan, the ninja, perched on a nearby rock and rolled pebbles in his paws. Violence began afresh in the darkness above and they dared not climb until the mountain stopped trembling. Sonic cried out suddenly causing everyone to jump.

"Damn! I forgot to tell her!"

"What?" came the collective response.

"That _I _carved her statue in Marble Gardens! She thought I paid some sculptor to do it!"

"Why are you bothering with that now?" Hannah complained, "You're acting as though you'll see her again!"

He glared at her.

"You pessimistic…"

Kootan stood up, coiled his body and jumped.

            What a jump. Lost in the dark for an instant, he fell back down, down, holding a large bundle in his arms. The rock he landed on crumbled but he hopped lightly onto the ledge the others were seated upon. Room was made for the bundle he held.

            It was a man. Kootan eyed Emess.

            "You know him?"

            "No."

            The warrior – for a warrior he was – wore a mangled suit of chain mail armour, the metal plates beneath were twisted and warped. His face was bleeding from the eyes, ears, nose and mouth, blood also matting his thick brown hair, moustache and short beard. His blue eyes opened, he was still breathing, barely.

            "Who…"

            "We are the Seven," Knuckles began, kneeling beside the broken man, "We have come here to defeat Thanatos."

            "Him!" the man gasped, "I saw him take the six worlds… I did nothing… but I tried, I tried…"

            He coughed, spitting up a gob of blood onto his chest.

            "But he beat me… we locked minds, but he is a god, I was no match for…"

            He began to cough again, flecks of blood flying. When the fit was over, Sonic spoke up.

            "What's your name?"

            The man tilted his head toward the voice.

            "Sonic?"

            "Uh… that's me."

            "I'm sorry, Sonic. I should have listened to you… but it's too late…"

            "But I never met you before!"

            A smile formed on cracked and blistered lips. His voice was very soft now.

            "Not here. Another time, another place. My name is…"

            He took a breath to reveal his name but stopped halfway through to die. Lazer and Kootan confirmed his passing. Knuckles closed the blue eyes, whose last sight was Sonic leaning toward them.

            "He knew you."

            "Duh, Red. But I swear I've never seen him before."

            "Whatever it was, you should have insisted a little harder," Lazer said, wondering at the mind he had touched so briefly. Sonic sputtered.

            "I don't know him! How could I have insisted he shoulda done whatever he shoulda done if I never met the guy!"

            "Another time, another place," repeated Kootan, "This is a mystery of magical proportions. I wonder…"

            "Let's bury him and get it over with," Hannah interrupted, and began pulling rocks toward the dead warrior. Everyone helped and soon he was entombed in stone. Knuckles intoned the benediction.

            "As you have died for Mobius, so you will return to her. Oh planet, accept his body, may his soul rise to the higher life."

            They left him there, a warrior buried on the mountainside.

            Thanatos smashed into the Master, roaring frustration at its immovable form.

            **"I know why you have not shattered. Destiny and Fate are within you!"**

The male and female deities emerged from the Master and faced him, as one voice, unafraid.

            _"Please stop this. You are not meant to take our world! Take any other, but spare this one of your hand!"_

**"Why?" **he challenged, **"When all other worlds are mine, I would have returned here to claim it as my own."**

_"Listen to us! You must not carry out your plan. If you stop now, none shall judge you, we will make you our own again."_

**"HA! Would you have me, the eternal Thanatos, as a subject to _your_ whims?"**

_"Come home…"_

**"Go! You are not welcome here, upon MY planet!"**

            They re-entered the Master, and his will did not prevail against theirs.

***

            Wonders did not cease after conquering the peak and starting the long, dreary way down. While Knuckles organized them into a chain-link of held hands (for none could see past the feeble light of their Emerald) Hannah spotted flashes of orange and red on the distant valley floor.

            "Any idea what those are?"

            "Another warrior, I bet," said Sonic, and the others thought so, too.

            They did not have to wait long to see their mystery warrior for the fight and fire were taken uphill, and to the mountain. Darkness among darkness could be seen, swiping at the bright flames that were driven ever backward and upward.

            "What? He looks like you, Tails!" cried Knuckles, who was closest to the action.

            And their warrior was revealed upon a cliff, fighting against nothing less than an Element.

            Red he was, a kitsune with _four_ long tails that flicked furiously as his sword flashed bright crimson. Flames were born from his body, casting blood shadows all across the mountain. As fire, he moved swiftly with the sword he held, dodging great swinging blows from the Element but also returning them with fierce power.

            Kootan drew the Water Emerald near and out slid his kodachi blade.

            "As he is not one of us, it is more foolish than brave to fight Thanatos alone!"

Lazer held Kootan's shoulder and shook his head at the others. His voice brooked no argument.

"Stay. I will go."

Lazer took to the air and made his presence known to the Element. It looked up, distracted by the new fire, and the mystery warrior left the cliff to drive his bright sword into the Element's shoulder. It roared, tearing at the wound with claws, and one of its terrible fists crashed into the mountain. The cliff gave way, but the mystery warrior was gone, and reappeared nearer Lazer, safe atop a protruding rock.

Then it was Lazer's turn. With the awesome power of R'Thrys, he forged his energies anew.

"Wanrikken style! _Split Image Slice!"_

He and R'Thrys became many, but the images all soared to the Element, slashing into and bursting out of its grotesque body. It died, screeching impotent curses at its killers until fire silenced it forever.

Red flames faced one another on that mountain, their fires separate and apart. Memory tickled Lazer's mind.

"I know you."

"And I know you, Lazer."

"Firey."

Firey averted his eyes.

"Are you the one I cried for?"

            "Are you the one I bled for?"

            Firey saw the scar, running from the top of Lazer's right wrist and slanting to the left.

            "I didn't see _that _one."

            "It's why I walked away."

            "It was your choice."

            Awkward silence.

            "But all the things I said and did… didn't they mean anything to you?"

            "More than you know, Firey. But she and I, we're together."

            Firey could not deny the wedding band on Lazer's left paw.

            "Then it's over," he said very quietly, purple eyes turned blankly to the ground. Lazer removed both of his gloves and offered them to the four-tailed kitsune.

            "Yours."

            "They're not enough."

            The wedding band was dull gold under the closeness of their natural fires. Lazer dropped his gloves to the ashes and stepped back.

            "Where I go, you cannot follow."

            Firey knelt, considering the white-blue gloves at his feet.

            "You've made them all dirty."

            "Goodbye, Firey."

            Firey stood with Lazer's gloves, pulling off his own leathery brown ones and tossing them. Lazer caught them frowning.

            "Why?"

            "I don't want your paws to get cold."

            A smile touched that sad face.

            "Goodbye, Lazer. My thoughts will always be of what could have been."

            A flick of his tails, and he was gone. Lazer tugged on the heavy, warm gloves and sighed. His companions were watching him. He must return, he could not linger and allow memory to distract him.

            Kootan hummed and nodded to himself. Emess was his audience.

            "It has happened _twice_ today. Something I last saw… four hundred and thirty one years ago. That warrior and Sonic, they _do_ know each other in another place and time. Lazer and that many-tailed one, they have met in this world, but they have also met elsewhere. I cannot perceive any other realities than this one, but by the gods' grace, I am allowed to _know_ this phenomenon when I see it."

            "Another life…" said Emess, and was silent, pondering.


	12. Temptation

Chapter 12 – Temptation

            While the strange meetings were fresh in their minds, the Seven entered the domain of Thanatos. There was no hint of light except that of the Servers and R'Thrys, which hovered very close to their respective users as though frightened of the cruel dark.

            All was silent, except the momentary rumblings of a god in conflict with the Master. They felt very alone.

            Thanatos acted. Within the counsel of his being, where none heard, he decreed:

            "As they believe they are alone, so shall their might be divided, and they shall be _mine."_

To be blinded of sight is a nightmarish experience. To be blinded of thought, feeling, even memory, to be in a universe of utter isolation and despair, is hellish. And thus it was for each one of the seven.

            Breath abandoned them…

                        Even the sound of their footsteps was gone…

                                    So quiet…

                                                So still…

                                                            _I am alone._

***

            And yet, _one_ would not believe this. Beholding the entirety of _aloneness_ led him into using the final hope, that of prayer.

            _"Where are you, Lord? Why are you silent when I am dying? Do you even exist?"_

His thoughts… were empty. But he continued.

            _"Coming so far and failing does not sadden me. Not even the death of this planet saddens me. What saddens me is that… you say **nothing. **While I die, while this _planet _dies, you hold your peace."_

There was no answer. He felt death turning his body and mind to naught. But before he died, he needed to express the nameless desire and longing that had gripped his heart throughout his life.

            _"All my good works… all my life's struggle, they are nothing."_

In the midst of stupefying numbness, he experienced the exquisite agony of tears.

            _"All I have left… is you."_

And it was in that moment. In that moment of absolute stillness and surrender he felt a presence more real, more present, and more tangible than anything he had ever felt before.

            It was in that moment that Emess broke free.

            _"Yea," _he thundered, causing the darkness to quiver, _"Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear _no evil! _For _Thou _art with me!"_

As the dawning sun frightens away the horrors of night, so did his faith drive all darkness from his mind, and such was this power, that his friends were also set free.__

***

            For the longest while they did nothing but pant for air, clinging to one another in the night for assurance that they were still alive.

            "We're still here, thank Destiny!"

            Tails held Sonic's forearm and did not let go.

            "Please… don't let that happen again… so dark…"

            Sonic tried his best to comfort the shivering kitsune. Kootan, rubbing the temples on either side of his head, was the first to stand up and point. A green light was visible, suspended in the darkness, as Thanatos swirled about it, making its light flicker and wink at them.

            "There is our goal. Let us go."

            A quaking Hannah stumbled past him with her purple Emerald revealing the shock and horror etched onto her features. Sonic and Tails, inseparably linked, went also with their green and blue lights. Lazer, the Flame Emerald illuminating his trembling frame, followed with arms wrapped around his chest. Emess walked with steady and sure feet, White Emerald showing the serene glow of triumph upon his face. But Knuckles did not get up. Kootan sat beside him, the dark blue and yellow lights mingling around them.

            "We must end this."

            "I cannot move even if I wanted to. I'm so tired, Kootan, I cannot make it."

            A gentle hand rested upon his exhausted head. Kootan looked off into the darkness, not seeing it, but a place of magic he knew well.

            "Courage, my friend. There is some power left in you. I will help you realize it."

            Without words, the magic flowed into Kootan and then to Knuckles, and the guardian's strength was not renewed, but re-awoken. Slow and deliberate movements brought the echidna to his feet again.

            "Thank you. I'd forgotten there was a Mobius to save."

            "It waits for you, and us, to release it. Never forget that there is some good left in this world."

            "I'll try."

            What mode of travel the gods use, none can say. Destiny and Fate left the perilous care of their world with the Walkers and crossed the universe.

            There is a place of zero energy, a dead zone, where there are no galaxies, no stars, where not even solar winds or stray asteroids disturb the perfect void. They went to this place, so far from home, and so very empty.

            Empty, except Death, whose voice was heard loudest here.

            **_"Why do you approach Me?"_**

****When their concerns are one and the same, it is not necessary for Destiny and Fate to speak with separate voices. Thus, as one voice, they communicated with Eternal Darkness.

            _"You know of Thanatos, the one who eludes you."_

_            **"Yes."**_

****_"We have arranged for him to be brought to you."_

Death pondered this.

**            _"He is serving My purpose with greater satisfaction than both of you."_**

****_"Be patient with us. We are offering you his life."_

_            **"You say you have arranged his demise."**_

****_"There is one through whom you shall work. When that one's work is complete, you shall act. But allow us to reason with him first!"_

_            **"I shall participate in your plans."**_

****_"We are grateful."_

They departed from his dreaded presence with haste. Death affirmed within his being,

            **_"I shall aid you in the death of your son."_**

****

****

            Sonic was the first to reach the Master. Its emerald glow filtered through the fog and clouds of the very god around them. His paw touched it… but it was not there.

            "Huh?"

            Then he saw _many_ emerald lights in the night, and was bewildered. Tails groaned at the façade.

            "He's tricking us. We'll never find it!"

            Knuckles came up to them, trailing earth's light.

            "None of your senses will help you. Everyone, use your Emeralds, and reach out with your minds."

            Seven emeralds were touched by seven minds. Echoes of their mental energies spread out from the Servers to embrace the night, and locate the Master.

            This did not go unnoticed by Thanatos, who felt their minds become open and susceptible to his thoughts. As the Seven moved closer to the Master he spoke words to each of their minds, his voice sounding like the chimes of heaven.

            **"Sonic. Stop this foolishness, and enter into my might. With my hand guiding you, all Mobius will love you, your wife and children. Your life will be eternal, as mine is eternal, and you will be lauded as the greatest hero of all. All I ask in return, is that you choose the right path."**

Sonic heard these words, finding them pleasant and truthful. All he had to do was turn back…

            "No, Thanatos. There are higher truths than power and prestige. You just don't know what they are."

            Sonic placed his paw upon the Master Emerald, and Thanatos departed from him.

            **"Tails. You desire knowledge? I will give you the knowledge of the universe. No secret will be withheld from you. You shall know all, and be able to create your own rules, using the power I shall give you. Just turn back, and you will become a god."**

"Sorry, Thanatos," the young Tails replied, "I don't want to know everything, or else I would lose the love for learning. And why would I want to be a god? I'm happy the way I am."

            Tails touched the Master.

            **"Kootan, surely you desire more from life. What would it profit you to deny me? Come with me, and I shall show you the wonders of the cosmos! You shall be the conductor of the grandest miracles ever beheld! Take my hand…"**

Kootan smiled.

            "Then, to be with you is to miss the whole picture. We are not meant to see only the wondrous, the beautiful, but also the poor and ugly, so that we can witness the miracle that is life."

            His hand held the Master.

            **"Lazer. I know your pain. I know how futile you believe life to be. But life with me is not in vain! Nothing is impossible for me. I shall return your family. Yes, even the people of Xadra shall be** **resurrected."**

Thanatos seemed to smile.

"**Lazer, why must you be separate from Firey? Such a connection will be nurtured under my government. Ask me, and all this will be done for your sake."**

Lazer was pained to hear this.

"I made my choice. As for Xadra, the dead shall remain dead. Xadra died because _you_ commanded it. For this, you cannot be forgiven."

            His paw took the Master.

            **"You are weary, Knuckles. What has your life as a guardian, serving the Walkers, done for you? Worship me and the Walkers will serve you. Do not believe for an instant that those three can match my strength or wisdom. Not even Destiny and Fate, _their_ gods, can overcome me. I am the future. Rest your weary soul in me."**

Knuckles shook his head. The path ahead of him seemed so long, so unutterably difficult, all he wanted was rest... but he did not give in.

            "I won't be called a hypocrite. I chose to serve the gods of Mobius, and I will do so until death."

            His paw sought refuge with the Master.

            **"Mortal man, why are you still alone? Why do you insist on worshiping an invisible, silent god? Be mine, and I shall be yours, your god, and your redeemer. I am real! Your blessings will not be small, but great! Your strength shall not be limited by your frail body, but everlasting! Confess me as your god, that is all I ask of you."**

To this, Emess replied, "I shall tell you a mystery, Thanatos, that you will never solve: the strength of God is made _perfect_ through my weakness!"

            His hand found the Master. At last, Thanatos resorted to his past servant. His voice was not pleasant, but terrible, his words not cajoling, but harsh.

            **"Hannah Nyress! Hear me. I am your god, your master. When I destroy these mortals, who will save you? Will you run? Will you hide from me? Though you flee to the depths of the Void, I will find you. Nothing will save you. Only I can save you. You shall have all the power you desire. Do you think I am lying? You know my words to be true."**

Breath caught in her throat. What an ultimatum! Yes, all his words were true. But could he destroy _the Seven? _Hannah hesitated, and her paw did not reach the Master. Thanatos lifted his hand…

            That was when Death made his entrance and Hannah's eyes became twin orbs of blackest void.

            **_"Thanatos."_**

****He winced. Hannah lifted her dreadful gaze to the night.

            **_"Hear my name: I AM Azell. I AM the end of all life. Surrender to Me, and you shall be at rest forever."_**

****Hannah/Azell smiled, and Thanatos shuddered.

            **_"Do you think I am lying? You know my words to be true."_**

****Azell left a very weak Hannah to use the Master for support. The Seven was complete. The dark god saw this, knowing in full what this union meant.

            **"I will not suffer this to happen."**


	13. Black and White

Chapter 13 – Black and White

Thanatos gathered _all_ his energies, closing the gaps among six planets and Mobius. Space and time collapsed as he brought the totality of his power to bear, blotting out Mobius in starless night as the _whole_ Thanatos prepared for battle.

            Destiny and Fate met Thanatos halfway as he summoned his might.

            _"Please reconsider what you are doing!" _they cried. Thanatos rounded on them.

            **"BEGONE! I will not heed your words any longer."**

Outside Time and Space, he ran from their presence to Mobius. They cried after him, _"Oh Thanatos, our son, it is your fate to fail, and your destiny to die."_

Knuckles commanded his small army to bring the Servers to their Master. Seven hands held the Master, seven hands held the Servers, uniting them.

There was light.

Tails was the first from whom golden rays burst, transforming his body into Turbo Tails, followed by the awakening of Hyper Knuckles and Hyper Lazer, armour gleaming. All the energies of the Emeralds hit home in Sonic, who became Super, and then, at last, Hyper, with rivers of rainbow light flowing out of his body.

"It is time," said Hyper Knuckles, white fire burning within his eyes. Gaia awoke at his call, her sleeping energies now thrumming to life. Wind carried the message to the creatures of Mobius, who, out of fear, began praying for deliverance. Fire burned pure within their prayers, setting their spirits against all that was Thanatos. Water quickened the magic of Mobius. All that was wondrous _and_ terrible on that planet brought their power against him, for he was an outsider. Emess prayed. Hannah was defiant. Then Sonic fulfilled his role as Life. As the highest expression of Chaos Emerald power, he took _all_ the released power of the planet and made it his own. 

From Sonic burst the brightest light of all. It spread, it shot upward and outward and bathed the galaxy around Mobius with ethereal luminescence.

Somewhere amongst that blast of brilliance, Thanatos was screaming. He had lost the battle before it started! He realized, the power he _thought_ to be his on six worlds, and Mobius, was fading as glorious light laid his strength bare. The creatures he had oppressed for centuries, across those six worlds, were waking up from the slavery of mind and body, and were defying him, even across space and time!

He did not want to die. He _could not_ die! Was he not a god? Thus he raged, but could not withstand, much less hold back, this holy power.

Above and beyond Mobius, in realms unseen, a wave of Death was rolling to the place where Thanatos was dying. Through the body of Hannah, Azell spoke to the mind of the dying god.

**_"Surrender."_**

Even in his greatest agony, Thanatos was unmoved.

**"I will NEVER surrender to you, Death! **

**_"You were not the first. You will not be the last. Know me, Thanatos - I AM Eternal Darkness!"_**

Out of the unseen realms, _Azell approached!_ His awful might manifest in Time and Space, his vast wings extended from Mobius to Sol! Struggling as only a god could, Thanatos tore away from Mobius, fleeing its ultimate Light, but, alas, he was weak unto Death. For the first, and last time, Thanatos experienced _fear_ as the hand of Azell froze around him and devoured him whole. 

Mobius, for the first time in its history, quivered before the entirety of Eternal Darkness. Azell's eyes pierced the planet, viewing its existence on all planes of understanding. _This was the planet that killed a god. _It was dangerous, and might withstand even _him._ But the still, small voice within him decreed, he could not take action. Thus he declared: **_"For Mobius, it is not yet the fullness of time."_**

Azell's hand withdrew. Death departed from the physical plane. Mobius was free.

***

            "It is finished."

            Knuckles fell, asleep, to the ground. Six others lay around the eight Emeralds, physically and mentally exhausted. In the valley, there were no more clouds, no more darkness or sickening air. Sunlight revealed dead plants and a stagnant river, but even as the clouds dissipated, flowers bloomed, and water flowed crystal clear through the echoing green. The Living Mountains sighed relief, and all of Mobius with them. Kootan viewed all this with childlike wonder.

            "Miracles never cease."

            "And nightmares never last long," said Lazer.

"Excuse me, but I'm going to sleep," announced Emess, who did just that. Tails rolled over and sat on his knees beside Sonic.

"Is it really over, or is this a dream?"

"What does your stomach tell you?"

It growled dissatisfaction.

"Hah, then it's real."

He curled his tails around his body and, resting his head on Sonic's side, fell asleep at once.

Hannah was looking at a clear blue sky. It was over, she kept telling herself, but was still terrified at what had happened to her body. She had been the vessel of _Death. _She would be afraid of the dark forever and ever. But Sol shone warm upon her tired limbs and she forgot the horror. Hannah closed her eyes to sleep.

Kootan and Lazer kept watch, talking and laughing with the other, as Destiny, Fate and the Walkers watched over them.


	14. Epilogue

Chapter 14 – Epilogue

            Knuckles drifted back to consciousness with his head resting upon something warm and soft. Julie-Su's face was above him, speaking with Mighty. Moving his head, he saw the other Chaotix in the room. He swung his feet over the side of the couch (someone had taken his shoes) to stand, embarrassed at Julie-Su's lap.

            "Well, I'm back."

            "Knux!" cried the Chaotix, and they were around him, slapping his back, holding his paws and laughing. He turned, and Julie-Su was sitting on the couch, grinning and holding out her paw. He took it and sat down.

            "We're in Echidnapolis?"

            "Yeah. Charmy found you fast asleep in Marble Gardens. Oh, the island floats again. You should have felt the earthquake when the Emeralds came back. They re-joined the island."

            "Thank you, Walkers," he whispered.

            "So man, is it over or what?" asked Vector, "You know, will he sleep for a thousand years and return?"

            "He is dead. He cannot return."

            Thus, Knuckles related the tale, of climbing the mountains, of the two mystery warriors and of the struggle with Thanatos. When it was over he got up and looked out a window at the city. It was unchanged and was pleased that life had resumed its normal pace.

            "Where Mobius goes from here, I cannot say. The Walkers did not go beyond the events of yesterday."

            "Yesterday?" laughed Espio, "You were asleep three days."

            "I was? No wonder my stomach feels like it's going to implode."

            "Got that covered," said Mighty, and opened a door to the dining room. It was where a veritable fruit festival, artfully arranged, lay upon a table of banquet proportions. Mighty had to grin.

            "Someone get a bib, he's drooling."

            Julie-Su held his paw, and he was happy.

            "Welcome home, Naki."

***

            She lay with him, her read resting on the inside of his arm. It was cold in the temple and outside but here, with him, there was wonderful warmth.

            "So you carved that thing out of a marble pillar all by yourself?"

            "Yep. Did the finishing touches with my quills. I didn't know it took all day until the sun went down."

            She slipped an arm under the blanket and around his shoulders. He was aware of her distended belly and the child within.

            "What do you think, a he or a she?"

            "I hope it's a boy. I don't think I'd be able to live in a household with _three_ women telling me what to do."

            "Will our child have riches? Will our child have fame?"

            She had asked the same before Paula was born.

"He'll have us, and Knothole."

            "In a free Mobius. Thank you, Sonic."

            Just as they were getting comfortable, they heard voices outside.

            "This is the Western Temple, built in the year 1389 by the natives of Marble Gardens. Walk this way."

            Sally and Sonic propped themselves on their elbows as a large tour group entered, cameras a-flashing, led by Althair.

            "Here is a fine example of modern sculpture."

Althair bent his grizzled brows at the young couple lying beneath the statue.

"This is a particularly interesting specimen, because the model and sculptor are in this very room. Hello, Sonic and Sally."

"Hi," they replied. The tour group would not stop clicking their cameras at them. Children were herded to the rear where they would not see.

"These tourists were stranded on the island after it began floating again. Air transport is being arranged, and I agreed to occupy them until then. Did you know they _pay_ to be led around?"

He lifted his arms and started to herd the group outside.

"Well, that's all for the Western Temple. Run down kind of place, but I suppose _some_ people still enjoy it. Now walk this way. Hey you, save some film for Lava Reef. Good. Walk this way, people."

***

            Knothole library had seen more of Tails since he returned. All day long, books littered the table he sat behind. The human warrior had vindicated the existence of other worlds. Now he was poring over every book of astrology and history he could find. Had aliens visited Mobius before? Did anyone know _where_ the planets were?

            "Shugah, you'll go blind from reading too much."

            Bunnie took a seat opposite him. Tails flopped another book closed with a sigh. There were myths and rumours here and there, none confirmed. But that dying warrior _had been real. _There must be some book or person he could get the answer from…

            "Shugah?"

            "Oh, Bunnie. Hi."

            "What are y'all searching for?"

            "There was a man we met on the mountain…"

            "Oh, the metal man, I heard."

            "He came from another planet."

            Tails leaned across the table.

            "There are other worlds out there, Bunnie, and I'm going to find them. And visit them."

            "What about y'all inventions? With Rotor at some university, y'all helping lots of people just by being here."

            His eyes sparkled.

            "When I find them, I'm going to build a rocket ship and fly there."

            She did not laugh. She could tell how serious he was. Never let it be said that Bunnie can't read people, half robot or no.

            "I hope you find them, Tails."

            "I will."

***

            "You're impatient."

            "Oh, shut up, old man."

            Kootan crouched beside the sorceress on the pinnacle of Mubia Peak. Here, the magic of Wind was at its height, its formless energies dancing around them.

            "How can you hope to be of Light without mastering Wind?"

            "The purest elements are closest to light, and they are wind and water," she recited. Kootan was her Elder now, her instructor.

            "Do not force your will. No element is mastered by force. There must be mutual agreement."

            Hannah had forsaken her pendant of platinum and blue diamond. Its power was the darkness, something she regretted ever learning. Wearing light cotton robes dyed sky blue (for such was the garb of a Wind sorceress) and a sapphire jewel in her ear, she stood again to face the untamed air currents.

            Kootan watched her arms spread into the diagonal posture, the one that controls the flow of air. A high hope indeed; the wind didn't obey just anyone.

            "Stop," Kootan said after awhile. She blinked and turned.

            "What? What? Don't tell me…"

            "No, no. It's not that."

            "Then tell me, you foolish…"

            "You've just caused the North Wind to head south for the winter."

            He smiled. It was another miracle. She would be a very interesting student indeed.

***

            Emess hacked into the tree with an ax. With the snows coming in, he'd have to reinforce all the huts in the village with firewood. Other village folk were felling trees around him, anticipating the long cold. He rested for a moment, his breath coming out in snowy wisps. There was sudden warmth behind and around him as another body pressed close.

            "I thought you were giving Vivian the flu medicine."

            "She's resting. It's warmer inside, why don't you rest?"

            He would enjoy a hot helping of Jubel's homemade broth, he thought. The crude moccasins on his feet were beginning to freeze and his toes were pestering him again. Leaving the ax with a fresh worker he followed Jubel to their hut. It had become _their_ hut when the first winter arrived, those many years ago. She could have found a warm cave then, but she preferred to move in with him. Their beds of fir needles were carefully placed on opposite ends of the room. She went to the fireplace where the pot was simmering. He took a chair at the table, both made by his own hands.

            "George gave you the last of the peppers, I smell."

            "Yes," she replied, her voice quieter than usual. He watched her go through the motions of ladling the broth into clay bowls and offering one to him. A chair slid smoothly out beside him and she glided into it, sniffing her own broth before drinking. He sipped in silence and was thinking of something to talk about until she spoke.

            "Emess."

            He put down his bowl. Her large paw rested on his arm.

            "I've never been good with words, but can you feel this?"

            "Yes." Her touch was gentle and reassuring as candlelight.

            "I'm holding you now, but if you go away, I have to let go. I didn't stop you from leaving, to fight for us, because you told me it was important."

            Her voice was barely above a whisper.

            "You are important to me."

            His clear, brown eyes found hers, the colour of warm honey. Emotions raged within him but he had to be in control for both their sakes.

            "The thought of losing you is unbearable. But there are tasks God gives me, and I must carry them out."

            "Does that mean I'm unfaithful?"

So very, very gentle was his hand upon her face, as her tears trickled over his rough flesh.

            "It means you care. And I thank you for it."

            She held his hand, feeling its life pulsing within her paws, and said not a word.

***

Snow patterns frosted the glass of their hut. Rebecca had to keep inside and keep warm for the winter, during which Ashlar would come into the world. With Lazer at her side, warmth was the least of her worries.

            "Why do you keep that bladed sun inside the house?"

            R'Thrys kept the eastern corner warm and bright, where the crib lay in anticipation of the baby.

            "It's safe."

            "I'm constantly afraid it's going to burn the house down."

            "Now you tell me? How foolish your fears are. This sword made Xadra livable again."

            "I know, but it makes me uneasy."

            Lazer held out his paw (Firey's leather gloves were safe upon the mantelpiece) and R'Thrys came. Rebecca leaned back to take in its size.

            "You swing that thing around?"

            "Touch it."

            "What?"

            But she thought, with Lazer here, she had no reason to fear this… sword. It was he who had brought it into their hut after all.

            A fingertip reached out and touched the hilt. When nothing happened, she breathed again. She stopped breathing after what happened next, though. A clean, thin sound of perfect pitch and crystalline delicacy filled the world. Its source was R'Thrys. Sonic and Sally heard it in the Western Temple. Tails jerked awake from sleep in the library. Kootan and Hannah, high atop Mubia Peak, heard it clearly. Emess and Jubel, watching the snow fall on the trees, heard it. Every living creature upon Mobius, even the ones incapable of hearing, heard this incredible sound. This resembled the non-sound that healed Xadra, but _this_ tone spoke of eternity. It was the sound of _completion._

Ashlar kicked within Rebecca's womb. R'Thrys rippled with red flame… its long blade withdrew _into_ the hilt, the dull edge bled out its colour and the translucent gold turned black. The handle was the next one to go, receding into the star-shaped metal. As the blade and handle disappeared, the pommel stone, the pyramidal red gem, melted out of its place and into the larger gem of the hilt. R'Thrys morphed, folding into itself, hiding the flame of its gem within darkness.

            As a flawless black sphere, R'Thrys moved through the air to rest upon the womb of Rebecca. She remembered to breathe.

            "What did you do?"

            Lazer was stunned by the inexplicable behaviour of the sword (sphere?). He touched R'Thrys but it did not change or respond. To his bare paws, it was very warm to the touch, perfectly smooth, but also throbbing with hidden energy.

            "Uh… Lazer?"

            "I don't know."

            What happened after this event is, of course, another story.

            _"Did you hear that?"_

_            "We all did."_

_            "What can it be?"_

Destiny and Fate joined the Walkers to view the small planet they called their own.

            _"I am troubled," _admitted Destiny, _"I do not know what this means for Mobius."_

_            "The great Destiny does not know!" _remarked Fate, _"Yet I, too, have no inkling of what the sound can mean."_

Ancient Walkers spoke their minds.

            _"We must investigate this."_

_            "We know it responded to the child and its mother."_

_            "We must be watchful."_

Destiny and Fate were one voice.

            _"Yes, be watchful."_

They departed from their fellow beings to where none could hear, their place of solitude. The voice of Destiny became sad, filled with all the concern of a mother.

            _"Is what we did wrong, Fate?"_

_            "Yes. Our future will be determined by our actions. We shall be judged."_

_            "Our son… we allowed him to die."_

_            "He would have exiled us."_

_            "But I feel, it is better that we were exiled than he… die."_

They spoke as one voice. Together, their pathos caused galaxies to tremble.

            _"Did he not know we loved him?"_

***END***

Author's comments:

Thank you for reading my story of gods and mortals. I love this story above any other I have written, for it brings my heart's concerns to light. Please review and tell me, gentle reader, what _you_ think of it.


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